The Frosty Level 5
by Lucky Jinxe
Summary: Continuing from the To Aru Kagaku no Railgun series after episode 14 Level-Upper sorted with elements of the storyline from Majutsu no Index. Mikoto chases after Touma and bumps into a boy her age, this was to be the first of many encounters.
1. Prologue

**P**rologue

"Wait right there!" The burglar stumbled over a rubbish bag as he heard the voice. It was much closer to him than he thought could be possible, he had quite a lead on his pursuer and there was no way she could have caught up on him so quickly, not at her age. However, he made one big miscalculation.

The man collapsed forwards as a weight suddenly pushed down on his back and forced him to the ground. His hands were forced behind his back before he could respond and he felt metal clasps snapped around his wrists.

"Judgement here! I'm arresting you for breaking and entering and attempted robbery!" The girl who had caught him declared. She was young; probably not even a teenager, with her red hair divided into two ponytails on either side of her head. The girl spoke with a very stiff upper class accent, her words precise and pronounced.

The man's body slackened as he gave in, knowing he had been caught. Only moments men and women in riot gear rushed into the alleyway after the girl had spoken into a hi-tech headphone. They pulled the man to his feet and led him out of the alleyway, watching carefully.

In a city fully of humans with ESP you had to be on the look out for surprises when it came to criminals. The girl who had caught the man followed them out of the alleyway, her mission complete. She took off her headpiece and slid into a pocket and did the same with the armband that she had put on to signify her affiliation with the city's policing force.

The would-be robbers were being shepherded into an armoured van before the doors were closed behind them and they were taken away by Anti-Skill, the riot police and support of Judgement, the standard policing force.

In Academy City there were 2.3 million inhabitants, 80% were students who studied, in short, how to become espers. Espers in this case being humans granted 'supernatural powers' through science. The girl who had just captured the criminal was a Teleporter, a level 4. There were six levels, Level 0, the powerless, up to Level 5, of which there were only seven in the city.

"Kuroko! Over here!" The Teleporter looked to where another girl, a few years her senior, was waving.

"Onee-sama!" Kuroko walked across the closed off road to where her senior was waiting. This girl was Misaka Mikoto, the strongest Electro Master in Academy City, ranked third among the Level 5's, although one would not think so from her attitude.

"You should have let me take them out at the beginning." Mikoto said with a frown as the armoured van pulled away, sirens wailing.

"Really, Onee-sama. You should know by now. It's my job as part of Judgement whereas you are simply a civilian bystander. You mustn't get involved, even if you are Tokiwadai's Ace." Kuroko admonished; but Mikoto once again just tuned out her words.

"The others are waiting, come on." Mikoto turned away and Kuroko had to hurry to catch up with her. Mikoto and Kuroko were with their friends, Kazari Uiharu, who was a member of Judgement and Kuroko's support; and Ruiko Saten, Uiharu's best friend and a Level 0. While Kuroko and Mikoto were above Level 3, therefore eligible to attend Tokiwadai, Uiharu and Ruiko were both below Level 3 and so were students of a less reputable school.

"Ah, Shirai-san. Did you apprehend them?" Uiharu asked in her polite, mild tones.

"Yes, they were just lowly thugs. I'm not entirely sure if they were Level 1's." Uiharu glanced at Saten to see if her friend was taking offence at this jab at Level 0's but the powerless girl didn't seem to mind, she had learnt to deal with it after recent experience.

"Let's go then, now that it's over." Mikoto said and they continued on their outing to the Seventh Mist, one of the larger malls in Academy City, also a student's favourite. Much of the upper building was still closed for repairs after a bombing attack aimed at Uiharu but the lower section still operated fully and it was here that the girls went.

As they walked towards the automatic doors Mikoto stopped as she spotted a familiar boy talking to an elderly lady. He was nodding his head and pointing somewhere but the woman seemed not to understand. The boy looked around, seeking help, and spotted Mikoto.

"Hey, could you help this lady?" He called out to her. Mikoto's temper instantly snapped, remembering the last time the boy had asked her to do a similar thing.

"Why don't you do it yourself, for once?" She demanded. The boy looked taken aback by her anger but instead laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head.

"Well there's someone waiting for me at home and they'll get annoyed if I don't bring them food anytime soon…." He trailed off as he noticed the sparks flying around Mikoto and held a hand out towards her and tried to calm her down but she wasn't listening. The boy saw it was helpless and turned away, sprinting down an alleyway next to the mall. The other three girls watched as Mikoto chased after the boy and shared confused glances before continuing inside. Mikoto was somewhat a strange person, it was better not to question her actions.

*****

Mikoto turned left, heading after the sound of pounding footfalls which could only be the mystery boy fleeing. She burst out onto another street, colliding solidly with someone who felt rock hard. She fell backwards, as did whoever she had collided with, onto the hard pavement. Mikoto sat up; rubbing the back of her head and wincing at the headache she could feel forming already. Her target had already disappeared and she scowled at her failure to get some answers out of him once again.

"I'm sorry; I didn't expect anyone to be coming out of there. I guess people use the alleyways more here than elsewhere." The voice belonged to the person she had bumped into and to her surprise it was a blond boy, her own age. He was quite short, possibly only just taller than her, with icy blue eyes and a pale complexion. He was already up and offered a hand to her. Mikoto took it and let him pull her to her feet. She was surprised at his strength, the boy was skinny to the point one might suspect he was anorexic.

"Tch, he got away." Mikoto fumed, picking up her bag.

"I'm sorry, were you chasing someone? They're not a criminal, are they?" The blond boy looked concerned; and slightly taken aback by her anger. Mikoto realised she was taking out her frustration on this person who she had bumped into and forced herself to calm down.

"Sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going." She mumbled the apology. The boy relaxed as he realised her anger had passed.

"I understand, I suppose. Oh, could I ask for some directions? I'm trying to find my way to Hakurai Academy but I don't know my way around this city, I only just arrived here today." Mikoto bit back the anger resurfacing; the boy's request a reminder of the fugitive's earlier favour.

"Yeah, if you follow this road you'll get to the city centre. There are signposts there, just find the one pointing to the Academy District and follow the path." Mikoto pointed down the pedestrian road towards the city centre and she turned to go.

"Thank you very much. I'd have been wandering around for hours otherwise." The boy made a strange gesture, as if he were pulling down a top hat in the old fashioned Western style, despite him not wearing any form of headwear.

"Just try and avoid some of the back alleys. Sometimes thugs hide in them." Mikoto warned and the boy looked worried.

"Thugs? I thought the security system here was meant to be top notch?" He inquired. Mikoto laughed contemptuously.

"Hardly. Judgement and Anti-Skill often arrive too late, there aren't enough of them to cope with it all and the robots often arrive too late or are too stupid to do anything. Anyways, I'm going this way." Mikoto disappeared into the alleyway. The boy called thanks again before continuing on.

Mikoto rejoined the others at the Seventh Mist only ten minutes after she had left. Kuroko teased her about chasing a boy and was promptly shocked by Mikoto's high voltage power as punishment. Saten and Uiharu laughed and the girls continued their shopping spree, although in the end they bought nothing.

*****

"Thanks for earlier." The boy who had run from Mikoto earlier had doubled back, found his rescuer by chance and had called out to him.

"You didn't look like a criminal so it seemed like the thing to do." The blond boy responded with an easy smile.

"So you're another esper, huh?" The boy, Touma, asked. The blond boy replied with a nod of his head. "What's your power?" Touma asked but the blond boy just winked at him.

"That's a secret."


	2. Chapter 1

**C**hapter 1

Mikoto stared up at blimp soaring high above Academy City.

"A System Scan today? We only just did one though…." She groaned. System Scans were just tedious for her, she couldn't go up and it just involved flicking coins into a pool of water, in effect.

"I must say, it is rather odd. I did hear that this happened once before, however." Kuroko agreed as she read t he notice on the blimp.

"Before? How come?" Mikoto asked, intrigued.

"It was when you became a Level 5, Onee-sama." Kuroko spoke as if it were obvious.

"Does that mean there's a new Level 5 then?" Mikoto asked. Despite being a Level 5 herself she had yet to meet any of them, so far in any case.

"I didn't hear anything about that. We could look at the database at the Judgement base on the way back." Kuroko suggested. She was as intrigued as Mikoto to find out if there was a new Level 5, and if there was, where they ranked in that hierarchy.

"Yeah, that sounds like an idea." Mikoto started walking towards a vending machine but Kuroko protested loudly.

"Onee-sama! We don't have the time right now, school starts early to account for the System Scan." Mikoto didn't look like she cared much; but as she looked up to consider Kuroko's protests she saw someone who looked familiar walking along the walkway they had just crossed.

"Do you know him?" Kuroko asked in a dangerous sounding voice. She had a most unhealthy obsession with Mikoto and all men the Electro Master was familiar with were 'threats'.

"He looks kind of familiar." Mikoto answered, trying to make out the boy's face. It was his pale skin and blond hair that sparked off recognition. "Ah, it's him from yesterday!" She yelled, pointing at the boy who looked up, startled to hear the yell and even more confused when he saw that he was being pointed at.

"Yesterday? The gentleman you tried to electrocute spontaneously?" Kuroko asked, of course only knowing that Mikoto had chased after a boy upon seeing him.

"No, another one. I bumped into him when I was chasing that other idiot." Mikoto growled. The boy was wearing a uniform that was familiar to both the girls. While Tokiwadai was a girl's only school only for espers of Level 3 and higher, Hakurai was the same for boys.

"That's Hakurai's uniform, isn't it?" Kuroko commented more than asked; but Mikoto replied with a nod of her head anyway.

"Come to think of it, he asked me for directions to Hakurai Academy yesterday; but what's a new student doing coming here in the middle of the term?" While it wasn't completely unheard of, it was unusual for students to take System Scan tests and then move into different schools in the middle of terms. Academy City may have been different to other cities; but there still had to be some form of organisation to keep things running properly.

"Maybe he only just reached Level 3?" Kuroko suggested; but she didn't sound convinced herself. It was too much of an oddity.

"Ah it's you. Thank you for the directions yesterday, I was able to find my way after that." The boy had walked towards them. He had a calm smile on his face. Indeed, everything about him was calm and composed.

"You're welcome." Mikoto muttered. She wasn't overly used to being thanked; she didn't do a great deal that would constitute thanks.

"Was that person you were chasing a criminal or some one dangerous? You seemed rather intent on catching him." The boy inquired. He spoke like Kuroko, in a very upper class manner, his words precisely pronounced.

"If it was then I would have been chasing him, not Onee-sama." Kuroko butted in. The boy turned to her and acknowledged her presence with another mild smile.

"Ah, are you one of those students with Judgement then?" He asked and Kuroko nodded. Her pride could not have swollen more if she were puffing her chest out and banging her fists against it like King Kong.

"That's right! I'm the leader of a two man team for Judgement in 7th District." She stated proudly. The boy had an expression of suitable awe on his face.

"That must be tough, working in Judgement on top of school studies?" He looked genuinely interested and Mikoto couldn't help but wonder if the boy was dead to the world's cruelty, he came across like that. His smile and general posture spoke of complete innocence but his eyes were curiously blank.

"Well, it's part of the job." Kuroko said in an off-hand manner that translated to: Well, I'm great enough to cope with it. "So, who might you be? You're wearing Hakurai's uniform so you must be at least a Level 5." The boy looked down at his uniform, as if he was unaware that he had been wearing it.

"Ah yes. I'm joining Hakurai Academy today. I'm rather lucky that they're doing a System Scan today so at least I'll be put in whatever class is suitable." He laughed, rubbing the back of his head. He caught sight of his watch and looked mildly alarmed.

"Oh dear, it's getting on a bit. I had hoped to leave a bit earlier… I'm sorry but I must go. I can't be late on the first day; it would create such a bad impression. It was a pleasure to see you again, and to meet you. Maybe we'll meet again?" The boy flashed a smile before running off down a path that led towards Hakurai.

"It's good to see a gentleman who can speak properly once in a while." Kuroko said admiringly, for once, of the boy.

"Oh? Perhaps you're more normal than I thought." Mikoto had a mischievous look all over her face and Kuroko's head shot up to look at Mikoto.

"Please do not misunderstand my words." She said quite firmly. "In any case, we'd better go as well." They turned and continued on their way and after a few paces Mikoto realised that the boy hadn't actually told them his name.

*****

Nothing changed after the System Scan, Mikoto was still Level 5, of course, and Kuroko remained a Level 4. No more espers had joined the ranks of the Level 5's in Tokiwadai. The rest of the day passed as per normal and once outside Kuroko waited for Mikoto before they headed off to the Judgement office together.

"Uiharu and Saten-san will be there by the time we arrive." Kuroko informed Mikoto who cheered up at that news. It was always good to see their friends despite their different schoolings and positions in the city's hierarchy.

However, on their way there, Kuroko's beeper went off. She put on her headset and listened. Mikoto could hear Uiharu's voice. She was speaking quickly and sounded worried. Kuroko looked at Mikoto, her face serious.

"Skillout's just sent a message to Judgement that they've taken a hostage and want us to go to their location, with no backup." Mikoto knew Kuroko had held back a vital piece of information.

"What does the hostage have to do with us?" Mikoto demanded.

"It's Saten-san."

*****

Saten struggled with her bonds but the old fashioned rope knots were too strong.

"Oh little miss, stop struggling. All that noise you're making is annoyin'." The threatening tone of the voice made her stop immediately. She didn't really remember how she'd got here. She'd walked out of school, taken a turn down an empty street, something hit her and that was about it. She'd woken up here with the sound of men's voices speaking in hushed tones around her.

"Why am I here?" She tried to sound strong and unafraid but her voice trembled and even to herself she sounded pathetic.

"It don't matter. Just sit there and shut it." The same voice commanded and she complied. She had faith that she'd be rescued; but that was her sole comfort. She was even blindfolded so she didn't know what was going on around her; but that only made her more afraid.

*****

"No you mustn't do that!" Kuroko spoke into her headset. She and Mikoto were dashing haphazardly down a pedestrian street, scattering people in their path. Kuroko had her Judgement armband on her arm so people parted without question.

"Did they not demand that we have no backup?" Kuroko demanded, Mikoto looked questioningly at her. "They're trying to send Anti-Skill to support us." Kuroko informed her just as someone began to speak from the other end of the line again.

"We can cope just find on our own. If you must then have Anti-Skill station themselves several blocks away but nowhere near the location." She and the caller argued for a little longer before the other person gave in.

"We're five minutes from the meeting point. Does satellite imaging show anyone there presently?" Kuroko asked. She got an answer after a two minute wait and she looked to Mikoto. "Apparently there lots of them; and they're armed. Skillout is getting more and more serious."

"But why are they targeting us?" Mikoto demanded.

"Because you're a Level 5, of course, Onee-sama. They hate espers so they'll obviously hate the strongest of us." Kuroko said. Mikoto somehow felt like that made this her fault but she was determined to save Saten so she pushed the guilt away and ran on.

*****

"Boss! They're coming now!" Someone shouted from a long distance away. Saten barely heard them. From the sound of it they were outside while she was inside a large, open space.

"Anyone following?" The voice from earlier, obviously belonging to the boss, sounded back.

"They're on their own!"

"A'right punks, show time!" The boss shouted with satisfaction raw in his voice. "Come on, you've got a part to play." Saten felt someone undoing the rope tying her ankles to the chair legs and then she was shoved roughly forwards off the chair. Although she was blindfolded she could see the change in light and knew that she had now come outside.

_Misaka-san and Shirai-san are coming for me. It'll be alright._

*****

The blond boy picked his order of books off the counter after paying in cash and slid them into his satchel, thanking the worker behind the cash machine before leaving the shop. He arrived on the street just in time to see Kuroko and Mikoto dash past, both with grave looks on their faces.

_Must be Judgement work._

The boy shrugged and began to walk up the street in the opposite direction, humming to himself and thinking of which of his purchases he'd start on first.

*****

"They're in the next block!" Kuroko panted. They were both nearly out of breath, having sprinted the entire way from Tokiwadai. This would put them at a disadvantage but that thought only occurred to them then when it was a bit too late. Their concern for Saten's safety had overridden all semblances of caution.

They burst into the next street, turning right and immediately found themselves in one of the more disreputable parts of town where groups like Skillout thrived. A minute later they arrived at the location they had been given, both panting heavily after their run.

"What took ya so long?" A cocky voice called out to them from the warehouse before them. From the desolate houses around them men appeared holding firearms, pointed at the two.

A well built man emerged from the dark warehouse before a crowd of similarly armed men. One of them was pushing Saten along before him. She was blindfolded and bound at the wrists. She looked pale and scared. Mikoto's temper was heading towards its break point rapidly.

"What exactly do you want?" Kuroko demanded, ever the model Judgement law enforcer.

"The famous Level 4 Teleporter from Judgement and the Level 5 Railgun. Imagine what'd happen if people found out they got roughed up by a bunch of us Level 0s?" The leader spoke.

"Using a hostage hardly shows how strong you are." Kuroko retorted.

"That ain't the point! The image is what matters! You get beat and all the espers get scared of Skillout!" The leader proclaimed. Sparks began to fly from Mikoto's head but the boss held a hand out and wagged one finger at her, tutting.

"That won't work little missy." He sneered. Mikoto ignored his warning and fired a full blast of electricity towards the boss; but it veered away to second floor of the warehouse where a metal rod was sticking out from the building. The lightning struck it and disappeared.

"A lightning rod?!" Mikoto couldn't believe it. People kept finding ways of using technology to defeat esper powers. With the lightning rod active her powers could only hit targets very close to her before the energy was shifted towards the rod. Kuroko was about to teleport but a dart fired from an air rifle sunk into her leg and she began to sway, as if drunk.

"Kuroko!" Mikoto shouted but the girl had already fallen sideways, head lolling as her muscles went limp.

"Time to give you a beating nobody's gonna forget." The boss cracked his knuckles and took a step towards Mikoto.

And then he slipped and fell onto his back.

"What the hell?!" He shouted, rolling over. A patch of ice had spread across where his foot had touched the ground. "Ice?!"

"Excuse me; but would you mind untying that lady over there and lowering your weapons? Guns are terrible things to be messing about with."

Mikoto turned with the Skillout members to see the blond boy walking into the courtyard before the warehouse. In school uniform and carrying his satchel he looked utterly powerless.

"Oi kid, what the hell you think you're doing? Tripping me up like that?!" The boss demanded, standing up. He made a chopping gesture with his hand and the Skillout gang members raised weapons. Mikoto now knew that these were, at least currently, loaded with darts containing some form of muscle relaxant, judging by the way Kuroko was still conscious but with her body limp as it was.

"Honestly, there's no need for this." The boy said, with a sad shake of his head.

"What are you doing? Get out of here!" Mikoto shouted at him but the boy didn't have time to respond.

"Fire!" The boss screamed. Guns fired, darts flew and hit the boy… but bounced off his skin. "What the hell? Fire again!" The boss was loosing his cool; his voice was tight and higher than it had been before. Triggers pulled back, guns clicked. Nothing happened. "I said fire!" The boss sounded manic now.

"Your guns won't work anymore now. Would you consider giving up?" The boy inquired sincerely.

"Like hell! Get this little prick!" Men ran towards the boy but slipped and fell hard on their backs. Ice began to spread over their legs and arms, then their torsos, trapping them to the ground. A grinding sound made the remaining gang members look up to see a long crack forming in the warehouse's metal roof. Ice was forcing its way into the crack and widening it until part of the roof fell away into the courtyard, the lightning rod with it. Cables attached to the rod snapped off as the strain became too great and the metal clanged to the ground.

The boss and his followers watched, terrified, as Mikoto stood up with rage raw across her face.

The lightning danced.

*****

"Why did you come here?" Mikoto demanded of the blond boy. Twitching, unconscious men lay across the courtyard. The lucky ones were still frozen in place. Saten was rubbing her wrists after a member of Anti-Skill had cut through them with a combat knife.

"I saw the two of you running this way looking rather serious and curiosity got the better of me." The boy shrugged as if it were nothing. "Glad I could help out, ultimately." He grinned at her.

"You could've gotten hurt for complete strangers, you know." Mikoto said, exasperated at the boy's innocence.

"No I couldn't. Ordinary thugs like those can't hurt me." The boy spoke in the same light tone as he always did but there was some form of confidence in his voice that reminded Mikoto of the earlier events.

"What's your power anyway? Cryokinesis?" Mikoto asked.

"That's right. Fitting for someone who lived in a cold climate, wouldn't you say?" The boy asked, turning to watch as a medic knelt down by the Kuroko who was acutely embarrassed, having regained control of her body a little she now had her tongue lolling out one corner of her mouth and one eyelid drooping as she flopped about.

"You joined Hakurai Academy so you're at least a Level 5, aren't you?" Mikoto demanded of the boy who turned back to her.

"Correct. Oh, I never introduced myself to you, did I? I'm Grey Alfred, Level 5 Cryokinesis, at your service."


	3. Chapter 2

**Note: **A sort of half filler/half story progressor chapter, loaded with MASSIVE hints at the future plot. See if you can spot 'em ;)

**C**hapter 2

"Level 5's sure are amazing." Saten said, remembering the events of the day before. Mikoto glanced at her from across the table.

The four, Uiharu, Kuroko, Saten and Mikoto; were in one of the many casual cafés in Academy City which saw a lot of use from students. Despite what could be described as traumatic events from the previous day life had continued on as normal. With all the excitement that had happened in their lives in recent years it was easier and easier to just move on after the happenings of the past.

"We're not that strong, you know." Mikoto replied irritably. She was also annoyed at how people held strong espers in such high regard.

"Oh, Onee-sama, there's no need to be modest!" Kuroko exclaimed, rubbing her face against Mikoto's arm despite the Railgun's attempt to shake her free.

"It's strange that Skillout has all this equipment though." Uiharu said. She was currently cycling through something on her PDA. Kuroko, hearing the Judgement related work, instantly had a character change and let go of Mikoto and had a serious expression on her face.

"It is worrying. There have been reports of members of Skillout having advanced weaponry especially adapted against espers." Kuroko added to Uiharu's musings.

"Adapted against espers?" Saten asked in surprise.

"They are highly illegal of course, sold on the black market. It's worrying how they are able to get them into the city though, with all the security measures in place." Kuroko continued.

"They must have a contact in the security forces." Uiharu surmised from Kuroko's assessment.

"Which is in itself a rather catastrophic thought." Kuroko then noticed that Mikoto was no longer watching them but was instead looking out of the window across the street. "Onee-sama?" She inquired before she followed Mikoto's gaze.

Outside their blond saviour from the day before was walking down the street but behind him, quite clearly, were at least four men who were not even trying to hide the fact that they were following him. They appeared to be shouting at him but Alfred was blithely ignoring them.

"I shall go and reprimand them for their antisocial behaviour." Kuroko stated clearly before standing up and slipping on her Judgement band.

"There's more of them." It was Saten who, having a better view of further down the street due to her seat's placement, had spotted a similar gang moving up the street, heading directly for Alfred. The other girls craned their necks to see the second group moving on towards the blond boy with their plans for what was about to happen written all over their faces. Men and women on the streets saw that danger was imminent and began to scatter.

"Come on, Kuroko." Mikoto said, grabbing the Teleporter by the wrist and dragging her out of the café despite the girl's protestations that Mikoto was only a civilian.

Saten watched as the two girls waited for a chance to cross the road while Uiharu called for Anti-Skill to arrive and arrest possibly Skillout members. The blond boy who had saved her the day before had at last stopped as if he had only just realised that he was in imminent danger.

Outside, Mikoto and Kuroko waited impatiently for there to be a gap in the traffic before them.

"Come on! He's gonna be in trouble in a moment." Mikoto shouted at the traffic in frustration.

"Onee-sama, isn't he a Level 5? Surely he is able to take care of himself?" Kuroko pointed out.

"We were in trouble yesterday and I'm a Level 5, you're a Level 4. If they can counter my power they can probably counter his. COME ON!" She screamed at the traffic but the city was not listening to her.

"Kuroko, teleport us over there!" Mikoto turned to the other girl but no sooner had she spoken than a vehicle catapulted off the main road into the turn in to the café's parking lot and men holding melee weapons piled out.

*****

"Oi, kid. When're you gonna realise you're in trouble, huh?" The leader of the first group following Alfred had called out when he first appeared indecisive.

"Trouble? You are aware I'm a Level 5, correct?" Alfred inquired, trying to allow the Skillout members a way out.

"That's why we're after you, dumbass! Your powers don't mean nothing with this!" One of the men pulled out a stereo and placed the play button. A high pitched whining began to emit from the speakers and Alfred began to feel a slight tinge in his head which slowly began to grow into a blinding pain.

"Ha, you're a level 5 but it affects you like everyone else!" The leader shouted and hefted a baseball bat he had been carrying. "Time to make a message out of you! No one gets away with making a fool outta Skillout!" The gang members began to close in on Alfred from either side.

_Perhaps helping them out was more troublesome than I thought._

*****

The men in front of Mikoto and Kuroko had revealed a stereo and were now approaching with weapons, despite warnings from the two girls.

"Very well then, we shall have to teach you a lesson!" Kuroko proclaimed and teleported. Or she would have; but she just flashed onto the same spot. She gasped, shocked. "I can't teleport?" She demanded.

Mikoto tried to fire a blast of lightning at the approaching men but the blast just veered away into the air. She couldn't control it properly and the power was severely reduced. In addition that there was a pounding in her head which, while painful, was bearable, more a minor headache.

"Pity this is only the portable version or your heads would feel like they're about to explode." One of the men sniggered as he swung a crowbar around nonchalantly in his hand.

"Kuroko, we don't stand a chance against them unarmed." Mikoto whispered quickly to the other girl.

"This is looking very bad at present." Kuroko agreed as the men came closer and closer. The two girls took an involuntary step away from the men; and then another.

"What's going on?" The men stopped and the two girls looked to see who had spoken.

"You!" Mikoto exclaimed in surprise.

*****

"I couldn't convince you to walk away from this?" Alfred tried one last time but the men were not in the mood for diplomacy, their feral grins told him that. He sighed and banished the pain in his head to a far corner, allowing him to concentrate.

He had seen the two girls across the road, which had surprised him, twice was coincidence but three times was just fate. The girls appeared to be in trouble as a group of men advanced on them and Alfred surmised that their powers were also being limited by the device.

Suddenly one of the men to his right charged, and then the whole of the second group followed him. The first group broke into a sprint as well and Alfred found he had no time to be worrying about how the girls were faring.

The man who had initiated the mad dash reached him first, swinging a heavy metal pole at Alfred who ducked under the blow and span around with one leg outstretched. The man's feet flew out from underneath him and he landed hard on the pavement. The blond boy's hand came down like an axe and struck the man on the side of the neck and he was thrown into unconsciousness. Then the other men were there and Alfred had no choice but to roll forwards into the main road.

He instantly stood up and began to run towards the oncoming traffic and skirted the second group who were still turning to follow his drastic manoeuvre. Using the minor head start Alfred dashed past them and then down the first alleyway he could arrive at. Soon he heard the sound of pounding feet as the Skillout members gave chase and he led them on a trail of twists and turns before he doubled back on himself using a ladder to climb onto a small platform and wait until most of the men had run on.

The man with the stereo was following more cautiously as it was their only way of sealing Alfred's power. The moment the boy had understood its effects he had known that he would have to somehow disable it and so gain the upper hand again.

Due to the man's slower pace he was separated from the other men by at least five paces. It wasn't as large a gap as Alfred would have liked but it was better than nothing. The boy rolled off the platform, spinning forwards and brought his heel down on the second man who was guarding the stereo carrier who backed away hurriedly as his companion was forced face first onto the hard cement.

Alfred moved fluidly and knocked the stereo out of the man's hands with an uppercut before he landed a powerful kick in the man's stomach and sent him reeling backwards, winded. The stereo collapsed in Alfred's hands and his finger pressed down on the 'Stop' button.

*****

"What are you doing here?" Mikoto demanded as the boy walked past the two girls so that he was before the men who were threatening them.

"I was walking home but you two looked to be in trouble. Why don't you just shock them all? You never hesitate to do that with me or other guys." Touma had arrived just in the knick of time although Mikoto doubted his ability to take on several armed thugs.

"That stereo is limiting our powers." Mikoto explained quickly. Touma saw the stereo in question and sighed.

"Such misfortune. So, we just need to stop it playing, right?" As ever, he simplified it all.

"It's not that easy. They're armed and a lot stronger than us-" Kuroko began but was interrupted as the Skillout thugs roared and charged forwards, weapons raised. Touma didn't budge, not until the crowbar slammed into his side and he was thrown aside, rolling along the pavement like a rag doll.

"That idiot!" Mikoto cried but had no time to think as the men closed in; and then sirens began to sound close by. That gave the men pause; they glanced at each other, unsure as of what to do.

"Another time." The leader of the group declared and led the men back to the car, giving Touma a derisive kick as he walked by. The other thugs thumped him with whatever blunt objects they were using as weapons as they passed but the boy was lying on his side and just curled up into a ball.

The men jumped into the car and began to pull out; but they had made a big mistake. The windows of the car were closed so the stereo was muffled and the effect was limited, Mikoto could feel some of her strength returning slowly. The car was already pulling out into the traffic when she threw a blast of power at it which ran down the car's frame before there was an explosion at the engine and the vehicle stopped, smoke rising fro the bonnet.

Anti-Skill arrived seconds later as the men climbed out and tried to flee but rubber bullets knocked them down and they were all safely rounded up and herded into the armoured van.

Mikoto was kneeling beside Touma who she had rolled back onto his back. He was wincing and there was a small red patch spreading across his shirt where the crowbar's spiked points had entered his body.

"You idiot, why did you do that? I've done nothing but try and shock you and then you get yourself all hurt." She tried to be furious but found herself unable to be so.

"Who knows?" Touma replied with a goofy grin before he flinched in the pain the action caused him.

"Onee-sama, what about the other boy?" Kuroko reminded her.

"That's right! Where is he?" Mikoto stood up suddenly and looked across the road but Alfred and the men were gone, except one lone man who was lying face down on the pavement. He was holding a baseball bat which identified him as one of the thugs.

A deep rumbling sound was coming from that side of the road and then a wall of ice filled the alleyway and spiked out onto the pavement, stopping just short of the road. It stretched all the way above the three storey buildings on either side.

"W-wow…." Mikoto couldn't help but be impressed, there was a huge amount of ice that they could see and she assumed there to be more further in.

"Honestly, he's just like you, Onee-sama. Even though he's a civilian he gets in these fights and causes so much damage…" Kuroko complained.

"Well maybe if you Judgement lot were faster we wouldn't have to fight!" Mikoto retorted. A great shattering sound interrupted their argument before it really began as the ice burst into many pieces and clattered to the ground where it melted away and the water quickly flowed intro drains or evaporated into the air, shrouding the alleyway in mist from which a shadow emerged.

A groan at their feet dragged Mikoto's attention away and she knelt by Touma who was moaning quietly. He had closed his eyes and his forehead was crinkled in an expression of pain. A small pool of red was spreading by his side. The wound wasn't lethal unless left for quite some time without attention; but was nevertheless painful.

Kuroko watched as Mikoto looked lost, for once, unsure of what to do, or more hesitant about what to do. It was in that moment that Kuroko understood, foresaw what was to happen and sighed. Across the road Alfred had left the alleyway and was pointing down it as he talked with a member of Anti-Skill who called to some comrades and they ran down into the alleyway together.

The blond boy saw Kuroko watching him and his mild smile showed. He looked left and right, despite the traffic having been closed off by Anti-Skill's arrival, before crossing the road.

"I'm glad you're alright, I saw that other group and was worried that they would have that contraption those had." He gestured to the alleyway where Anti-Skill was pulling out unconscious men who looked like they had been in a freezer.

"You mean the stereo?" Kuroko inquired to which Alfred nodded his head.

"So they did have it. It's rather worrisome that anyone would think to make such a thing in the first place." He confessed and then looked down to see Mikoto looking at Touma's wounded side. She looked put off by the blood and unsure of what to do. Alfred knelt down beside her and gestured for her to give him some room.

"What're you going to do?" She asked, strangely protective of the boy whom she had been trying to shock the day before.

"Just put some pressure on it. This may hurt a little." He informed Touma before he placed both hands firmly on the wound. The injured boy grimace in pain and arched his back at the sudden pain before relaxing a little.

"You seem to be fairly well acquainted with medical procedures." Kuroko observed, watching the boy's intensely concentrated expression.

"Not particularly. Before… I was aiming to be a doctor and I was preparing for that so I picked some things up here and there. I'm rather glad that it actually came in useful."

A short time passed before the ambulance arrived in which Uiharu and Saten joined the group. Kuroko made sure as to keep them at a distance where the extent of Touma's injury was not visible. The paramedics carefully levered Touma onto a stretcher and carried him to ambulance and then drove off with sirens blaring.

Mikoto and the others watched the vehicle disappear down the road. Alfred was wiping his hands on a white handkerchief, staining it red. They had to wait as Anti-Skill interrogated them about the events but Kuroko intervened using her position as a member of Judgement and eventually they were released.

As Alfred bade them a farewell Saten ran forwards and the boy waited patiently as she worked out what she wanted to say.

"Thank you, for yesterday. I heard you helped save me." Alfred waved off her gratitude and claimed he had been just passing by.

"But seriously, do you guys ever have a normal day?" He asked sceptically.

"A lot's happened lately…." Saten agreed slowly. Alfred nodded his head, half listening.

"Well, in any case I should go. Somehow I imagine that we'll probably end up bumping into each other again with all this excitement going on." The boy left, walking down the street on his way back home.

"Kuroko, can we look up his profile on the database?" Mikoto asked the Teleporter unexpectedly.

"I suppose so; but it would be a grievous misuse of resources. Is something the matter with that gentleman?" She scanned Mikoto's face for tell tale clues but the girl was unsure what she was thinking herself.

"No, nothing's wrong. I just have… a weird feeling."


	4. Chapter 3

**Note: **A shorter chapter; but I couldn't spoil the perfect cliff hanger :P

**C**hapter 3

"Ah, here we are Onee-sama. Take a look." Kuroko had pulled up Grey Alfred's profile from the Judgement database and was turning the screen so that Mikoto could better see it. Mikoto leaned in to read the profile; but there was nothing that was odd about it, that she could see in any case.

"He has quite a few awards and qualifications, which is rare but not unusual." Kuroko summarised the profile and she was right, Mikoto could see nothing that leaped out at her, until she saw that his parents were unlisted.

"Hey, Kuroko, there's no family information here." Mikoto pointed out. Kuroko leaned to the side so that she could see the screen as well.

"You're right; but that's not unusual. Lots of espers here don't have known parents." Kuroko tapped some keys but an error message came up. She frowned. "That's strange. It appears that Judgement doesn't have high enough clearance to see those details."

"Judgement doesn't?" Mikoto asked in surprised. She had thought that, being part of the security network, Judgement would have had unlimited clearance into the residency database.

"I've never seen it on someone's profile." Kuroko added. They had at last found something strange. "What could this mean?" Kuroko asked, looking up at Mikoto.

"Beats me."

*****

Touma awoke in the all too familiar hospital room. He was seriously beginning to consider leaving some personal items at the hospital for the next time he was stuck there. There was a knock on the door and it opened immediately after the third one.

"Ah, you're awake." The blond boy who had helped Touma out previously entered. He wasn't in school uniform, his attire the smart-casual look of jeans, polo shirt and v-neck jumper with rolled up sleeves. The boy carried a bag with him which he handed to Touma after closing the door.

"Thanks." Touma said, a little surprised at the boy's appearance. It wasn't like they knew each other or anything.

"Tell me, why did you get involved yesterday?" The boy asked seriously. Touma look at the boy and decided that Alfred wouldn't settle with one of Touma's usual non-committal answers.

"I was there; it seemed like the thing to do." Touma replied with a shrug as he looked inside the bag, inside was a tin which, upon opening, revealed a selection of biscuits.

"I see. Well, everything'll be fine then." Alfred stood up and turned to go.

"What, is that all you came for?" Touma asked as the boy reached for the door handle.

"Actually, it was rather important." With that Alfred slipped out of the door and it shut behind him, leaving Touma in the room alone with the tin of expensive looking biscuits.

"What a weirdo."

*****

Mikoto's mobile phone rang as she loitered around on the high street, staring in shop windows without really seeing anything inside, her thoughts elsewhere. She snapped her phone open without looking and held it to her ear.

"Hello?" She asked, annoyed she hadn't looked at the calling number first.

"Onee-sama it's me. I won't be back until later tonight; we've been assigned late night patrol routes for a while." It was Kuroko and she sounded exhausted.

"Late night patrols?" Mikoto was listening properly now.

"Yes, as a precaution against Skillout. There have been an increasing number of attacks at later times so we're to patrol against them."

"Are you going to be okay?" Mikoto asked, remembering the Level Upper episode where Kuroko had been injured after a series of battles with those who had used it.

"Ah, Onee-sama, to be worried about me…." Some energy found its way into Kuroko's voice and she went on for several seconds before she finally gave a serious answer. "We've been told to watch out for this 'Capacity Down' which weakens our abilities as Espers; but without it they're nothing more than weak thugs."

The two continued on for a few more minutes before hanging up and Mikoto was tempted to stay out after curfew that night to see the extent of the Skillout attacks. That was until she saw Alfred walking down the opposite side of the street. She remembered what they had found, or rather had not found, on his profile and she shouted to him. The boy looked up and saw her and smiled a greeting. They walked towards each other and Mikoto noticed how Alfred's smile wasn't reaching his eyes, it was eerily fake.

"I have some questions for you." She said without preamble. If the boy was taken aback by her abruptness he did not show it and gestured for her to go on with a nod of his head. "We looked at your profile on the Judgement database." She said and waited for a reply.

"Why is that?" The boy asked, cocking his head to one side inquisitively.

"You showed up at two fights and you appeared out of nowhere. Don't you think that's even the slightest bit unusual?" She demanded but the boy shook his head.

"You were involved in both incidents and it's not like you're a member of Judgement. You and I are Level 5s; it stands to reason that we'd be targeted by the more foolhardy members of Skillout." His face and tone were neutral, as if he were ready to lie at a moment's notice.

"So why is it that your family details aren't accessible even with Judgement's clearance?" Mikoto demanded, hoping to catch the boy off guard and she got a reaction; but not one she had imagined. The boy's eyes flashed with pain before he closed his eyes as if he had a headache.

"I can't tell you that, at least not yet. I'm surprised it was blocked even from Judgement's database; but I suppose that's only to be expected." He looked at Mikoto and the smile was completely gone, he was deadly serious. "I'll tell you more when I can; but for now, please just let it be." Despite his firm tone he was pleading with her and Mikoto backed down in the face of it.

"Fine… but if anything happens, I'll come after you." She warned. The boy turned away from her and began to walk away.

"No, if anything happens it'll be me who comes to you."

*****

Uiharu was working at her computer console in the Judgement office. It was late and only she and Kuroko were still there, all the other workers having gone home for the night. The night patrols were to be taken in shifts and they had the first one.

"Uiharu, how's that search coming?" Kuroko walked over to the girl's desk with a piping hot cup of coffee which she put down on the table before taking a sip of her own. It was a little melancholic that they were having to drink coffee in order to stay awake at their age; but such was life.

"I've found some discrepancies and I'm just following them to their source right now. It shouldn't take much longer." Uiharu replied; but no sooner had she spoken than a large warning box flashed onto the screen and declared that what she had been trying to access was prohibited and required higher security clearance.

"That can't be right. We're meant to have access to all import and export traffic to Academy City for our cases." Uiharu said and typed away but she only ran into the security block again.

"That's twice our clearance hasn't been high enough in two days." Kuroko mused.

"Shirai-san, what could that mean?" Uiharu asked, looking at her team mate.

"It means that there's something going on which we don't know about."

*****

Touma was now out of the hospital and walking home. It was dark and the streets were mostly empty.

"Index is going to throw a fit again." He muttered to himself dejectedly. He looked up from his depression to see a familiar face running across the pedestrian street. "Shocker?" He asked no one in particular as he recognised Mikoto's face. Then his eyes took in the goggles on her head and the machine gun that she was carrying and he stopped short.

"What the hell's going on?" He demanded, again of no one in particular. The girl ran into an alleyway and Touma took after her, giving up a silent prayer that medicine had advanced so much here that his wound had been fully healed in a day. He rounded the corner and looked down the long alleyway but he could see no one down it.

After several minutes contemplating he turned away, remembering Index along at home. He could puzzle this over another time, or ask Mikoto when he saw her next, for he was sure he would.

Touma was unaware that he was being watched by who he had seen, the watcher standing atop a roof having used her ESP to run up the wall, her shoes hidden behind a pile of rubbish in the alleyway.

"Close, close. I'd have had to kill him if he'd seen me, no civilian witnesses, right?" The girl turned around as a white haired, pale skinned boy with a malicious grin walked towards her.

Now a block away, Touma looked back over his shoulder, thinking he had heard something. There was nothing in sight; but he was sure he had heard gunfire.


	5. Chapter 4

**Note: **Just to make things clear: I have taken advantage of some little details that were left out of the anime series To Aru Majutsu no Index (as those who have seen it will notice this is now conforming more to that part of the story arc) while also manipulating/changing some for my own purposes.

**C**hapter 4

"Oh? So his profile wasn't the only thing locked?" Mikoto asked Kuroko. They were walking to school and the younger girl had large bags under her eyes from her late night Judgement work.

"Yes, although I can't see how the two could possibly be related." Kuroko replied sleepily.

"They might not be, they could be separate matters." Mikoto pointed out but the other girl was too tired to reply. Coming up the road in front of them was Touma and when he saw them he looked as if he had remembered something.

"Isn't that the gentleman who was injured the other day?" Kuroko asked, waking up a little.

"Yeah, it is." Mikoto's initial instinct to zap the boy was held back on account of two things: He had tried to help them the day before and he looked as if had something important to say.

"Hey Shocker, I've got something to ask." Touma greeted them. Mikoto's thin patience for the boy snapped at that nickname and she instantly fired a bolt of electricity at him, which the boy blocked with his right hand.

"I have a name! It's Misaka Mikoto, remember it already!" Mikoto yelled and the boy nodded his head.

"Alright, alright. Were you near the hospital late last night?" He asked, catching both girls off guard with the question. Kuroko turned to Mikoto, suspecting the older girl of having stayed out late to 'help' with the Judgement patrols.

"No, I was on the high street in the evening but it wasn't that late and it's nowhere near the hospital." Mikoto replied, confused at the strange question.

"Are you sure? Because I saw someone exactly like you carrying a gun and wearing combat goggles there last night." Touma went on and t he look on his face was utterly honest.

"That couldn't possibly have been Onee-sama; she has no means with which to acquire such equipment in the first place." Kuroko answered for Mikoto confidently.

"You must have been seeing things." Mikoto agreed, the tale was too fantastical to be real.

"Maybe." Touma agreed. They walked away from each other after that, the topic then closed.

"There's definitely something going on."

*****

Saten treated Uiharu to a lunchtime meal at a café near their school. The girl looked exhausted from her late nights at the Judgement office and Saten took pity on her for it.

"So, are you going to be working late again?" Saten asked. Uiharu nodded her head sleepily and took a sip of the coffee on the table before tucking into her meal.

"We haven't made any progress yet. There are too many Skillout members and we can't get past this security block." Uiharu said in between mouthfuls.

"Doesn't that mean higher-ups are involved in it?" Saten asked. Uiharu nearly choked on what she was eating.

"That couldn't be possible! Why would the higher-ups create problems for Judgement and Anti-Skill?" She answered with her own question to which Saten had no answer; but both were acutely aware that Saten had made a valid point.

"Uiharu, isn't that Misaka-san?" Saten was pointing out the window to where a girl holding a case was walking up the street. Uiharu looked out as well and saw the person.

"I think so." The girls left the café and called to Mikoto together.

"Misaka-san!" They called. The girl swivelled around, saw them; and then fled with the two girls too surprised to follow.

*****

Kuroko's phone rang and she picked it up irritably. She was tired and the tedious school lessons had not improved her condition.

"What is it, Uiharu?" She demanded.

"We just saw Misaka-san but she ran away from us. Is something wrong?" She asked.

"Uiharu, that's impossible." Kuroko said tiredly.

"What do you mean?" Uiharu sounded confused.

"Onee-sama is right here with me." Mikoto looked up as her name was mentioned. She asked Kuroko silent what it was about and Kuroko shook her head to say it was nothing.

"But this person looked exactly like Misaka-san, Saten-san says so too." Uiharu insisted.

"Just one moment." Kuroko put a hand to the receiver and held it away from her head. "Onee-sama, there might be a copycat of you running around." Kuroko said.

"A copycat?" Mikoto asked.

"Uiharu says that she and Saten-san just saw you and that you ran from them." No sooner had Kuroko finished than Mikoto had snatched the phone from her and was holding it to her ear, deaf to Kuroko's protestations.

"Uiharu-san, it's me. What did you see?"

*****

The third sighting was far, far worse.

It was when Mikoto and Kuroko were walking back to the Tokiwadai dormitories from their rendezvous with Saten and Uiharu that they saw Touma again.

"Wait a moment, I want to talk with him." Mikoto said and she shouted at Touma to get his attention. The boy turned around saw her, raising his hands instinctively for protection.

"I just want to talk." She snapped and he lowered his hands slowly, untrustingly.

"You said you saw me last night, right?" Mikoto demanded and Touma nodded his head slowly.

"I think I did anyway." He replied carefully.

"Did whoever you saw run away from you?" Mikoto asked and Touma considered it.

"I think you were running away from something else, not me." He finally said.

"Something else?" Mikoto repeated but their conversation was interrupted by Kuroko's surprised shout.

"Onee-sama!" She called. Mikoto spun around and immediately saw what Kuroko was pointing at. On the bank, standing there and staring at them was a person identical to Mikoto.

"Come on!" She grabbed Touma by his shirt and dragged him with her until he began to run by himself.

"Why do I have to come with you too?" He demanded.

"Because you're involved in this now!" Mikoto shouted back as they chased the distant Mikoto copycat. She had already run away from the park area and was heading into the busier shopping district.

"If she gets into those alleyways we'll never find her!" Kuroko, who was now running beside them, warned.

"Go on ahead and catch her!" Mikoto ordered and Kuroko teleported away after the distant Mikoto who had just dashed down an alleyway.

Mikoto and Touma entered the alleyway at least two minutes after Kuroko and the copycat had disappeared down them and they stopped, looking around for any clues.

Mikoto saw Kuroko on her hands and knees down one of alleyways branching off from the one they stood in and she ran to her with Touma close behind.

"Oi, Kuroko! Are you okay?" Mikoto crouched next to the girl; but she wasn't injured. She was throwing up. "What's wrong?" Touma, who was looking down the alleyway before them, also fell to his knees and began to vomit.

"What's wrong with you two?" Mikoto demanded; but as she looked up towards Touma she saw the alleyway they had both looked down and which she had not yet seen and her eyes widened in shock.

The floor and walls were plastered with red blood and bits of organs. On the ground in the middle of the alleyway lay a body which looked like it had exploded from the inside, blasting the body's innards everywhere.

Mikoto joined the two in bringing back her lunch.

*****

When Anti-Skill arrived Kuroko led them into the alleyways. Mikoto and Touma sat on railings outside a book store adjacent to the alleyway while Anti-Skill swarmed around them.

After a minute Kuroko came running back out of the alleyway.

"Onee-sama, it's vanished!" She looked pale.

"What?" Mikoto rushed after her into the alleyway with Touma close behind. They had barely said a word to each other since finding the corpse, it was too fresh in their minds. However, as Kuroko had said, there was no body in the alleyway, in fact there was nothing to show for it.

"What's going on?" Touma spoke first. Once outside again Anti-Skill took statements from all three of them but they were sceptical and would most likely report the incident as a hoax.

Touma left first and then the two girls walked back to the dormitory, later than they had planned. On the way Kuroko received a call from Uiharu calling her to work and she teleported away, leaving Mikoto on her own.

_What's going on?_

She sensed someone up ahead and saw a familiar person waiting for her by the side of the path. Alfred raised a hand in greeting and she strode over to him, frustrated.

"What the hell's going on?" She demanded as she grabbed him by his shirt.

"How about you let go and allow me to explain? As we're both involved in this."

*****

"A copycat of Misaka-san?" Uiharu repeated for the umpteenth time. Saten, who had been working on extra homework, turned around. She had ignored the previous murmurs from behind her but it had eaten away at her until she couldn't stand it anymore.

"It's probably just some fan of hers. She IS a Level 5." Saten tried to dismiss Uiharu's worries; but the reasoning sounded lame even in her ears.

"I wonder if Misaka-san will be alright…." Uiharu mumbled.

"Huh? She's one of the most powerful espers here, of course she will be!" Saten tried to reassure her.

"But I heard that if you see your doppelganger you'll die!" Uiharu protested and a silence descended on the two.

"Oh my god where's my phone!" The two sprang into action in search of a mobile phone.

*****

"Alright, how about you start with why the hell there's more than one of me?" Mikoto growled at Alfred. She had endured his silence while he led her away from the main path into a more recluse area of the park.

"I wonder if you remember a time many years ago when you were told that research into your power could help save lives?" Alfred asked as he turned to her. They were far away from any streetlamps and it was almost pitch black. If it weren't for the boy's spectacularly pale face and hair along with the city's massive light output then he would have been invisible to her.

"Some doctors said that, so what? How would you know anyway?" Mikoto was in no mood for games but it was clear that Alfred was going to handle it his own way.

"I don't suppose you ever wondered what happened with the DNA map they got from you, do you?" His words were mild but his tone was hard. Realisation dawned on Mikoto then and the consequences of it were shocking.

"Th… that can't be! There's no way! Impossible!" She protested, taking an involuntary step away from the boy who had suddenly transformed into some kind of spectral nightmare in the darkness of the night. His face had lost its mild, kind expression and had been replaced by something far more resolute, determined.

"You wanted answers didn't you?" Alfred persisted, his voice becoming sterner and louder as he went on, building up. "Stop acting like a child and take some responsibility!" Mikoto turned and ran from him then, tears streaming from her eyes.

_How could this have happened?!_

Alfred watched her flee into the darkness, he could feel the droplets falling from her face and onto the ground and he closed his eyes.

"This was for the best." Although it didn't make him feel any better, he knew it to be true.

With that said the boy turned and walked in the opposite direction, disappearing into the darkness. His game of chess had accelerated rapidly, the pieces were in place; and now it was time for the enemy queen to make its move.

And he would be waiting.


	6. Chapter 5

**Note: **Apologies for the slow update. A combination of increased homework, the battle for a senior prefect tie and the changing of ISP's (which ran into as many complications as physically possible... and then some more) has soaked up my time. Here's a double update as an apology!

**C**hapter 5

"It's ringing!" Uiharu informed Saten, holding the phone to her ear. After several beeps it picked up; but it wasn't Mikoto.

"Hello?" It was a male voice. Uiharu rocked back in surprise before holding the phone back to her ear.

"Hello, who is this? Isn't this Misaka-san's number?" Uiharu asked. Saten looked at her questioningly but the flower-head girl made a gesture for her to be quiet a moment.

"This is Alfred, I'm afraid that Misaka-san needs some time on her own for now." The voice was familiar and Uiharu finally placed it as the mysterious new Level 5. She wondered why he was with Mikoto, or rather why he had her phone.

"It's very important! Is she alright?" Uiharu insisted but the boy was unyielding.

"Trust me; she needs time alone before any news. It can't be more important than this current situation." There was a distinctive click as the boy hung up and Uiharu closed her phone up and looked at Saten.

"We should find Misaka-san. Something's wrong."

*****

Kuroko sat on her bed and watched Mikoto in concern. The older girl had almost collapsed into the room with red eyes and a mind numbed expression on her face, not saying a word as she lay down on her bed and buried her face into the pillow.

"Onee-sama?" Kuroko tried yet again but she received no response. After a minute's wait she was about to try once more but the intercom buzzed, announcing a guest in the foyer for their room. Mikoto made no response to this so Kuroko stood up and made her way over to the intercom.

"Yes?" She asked, irritated at the interruption.

"I would be greatly obliged if you could meet me in the foyer." The voice was muffled but she recognised it as Alfred. Kuroko was about to respond but the boy cut in, still muffled. "Oh; and I'd rather Misaka-san was not aware of this, there is no need to trouble her further at this point." The system cut out. Kuroko glanced back at where Mikoto had not moved from her bed.

"I'm just going out for a bit, Onee-sama." Kuroko informed her. She got no response and so left the room, closing the door behind her. Down in the foyer Alfred was waiting for her.

"What do you know of Onee-sama's current condition?" Kuroko demanded. Alfred ignored her questioning and handed her a mobile phone. The Gekota frog toy on the bottom made the ownership of the item instantly recognisable.

"I think you'd better hang onto this, rather than give it to Misaka-san. She has enough on her mind right now." Alfred told her and then turned to go.

"Wait just one moment." Kuroko ordered and the boy complied. "What is going on with Onee-sama? You know, do you not?" There was silence between them a moment before the boy turned around to her.

"You work for Judgement, correct?" He inquired, catching her off guard with the unexpected question.

"That's correct." She responded.

"Then it's best you didn't know, there's no reason for you to be disillusioned. Ignorance is bliss." The boy left then and left Kuroko to her confused thoughts.

*****

Several days passed with Mikoto not quite herself; but no matter how they tried her friends could not get her to open up about what was bothering her. With each passing day they became more frustrated and distressed by her condition and self-inflicted isolation.

"What could be bothering Misaka-san so much?" Saten wondered aloud. Mikoto was not with them, having declined the invitation for a small meal at the usual café.

"I don't know; but it must have something to do with that boy." Kuroko mused with a note of anger in her voice. Between Mikoto's distancing herself and the boy's mysterious attitude she was becoming more and more irritable.

"That boy?" Uiharu echoed. This was something new.

"That other Level 5. He knows what's going on but he wouldn't tell me." Kuroko told her, taking a sip from her drink.

"He had Misaka-san's phone the other day when I called her!" Uiharu exclaimed.

"He brought it back to the dormitories and asked that I didn't give it to Onee-sama." Kuroko responded and took another sip.

"But why?" Saten insisted.

"He had no real reason, he just spoke in riddles and then left. What an annoying boy." Kuroko growled.

"Ah, it's the Teleporter." The three girls looked up to see that Touma had walked into the café.

"What are you doing here?" Kuroko demanded, slightly more snappish than usual. The boy held up his hands in mock surrender.

"I was just coming to get a drink, that's all. Anyway, what's wrong with you?" Kuroko turned away without deigning to respond to the blunt question so Uiharu answered for her.

"Misaka-san has been acting strangely recently and we can't work out why." She told him. Touma looked surprised.

"Shocker acting strange? Maybe it's because of what happened before…." He looked at Kuroko who paled a little at the memory, the two looked ill.

"What happened before?" Saten repeated but the two shook their heads.

"It's nothing. Anyway, I should get going." Touma left and walked outside.

"Curious now?" He turned around to see that Alfred had been waiting for him by the entrance.

"You know that's weird, stalking someone?" Touma pointed out.

"I'll take that as a yes. Shall I tell you where Misaka-san is currently?" Alfred had an amused look on his face which Touma didn't like one bit.

"I'll pass, thanks." The boy walked away and Alfred smiled.

"Well, you were going to go in that direction anyway." The boy sensed someone not far away from him and he turned to see a boy even paler than him with white hair and malicious eyes walking towards him, hands in pockets.

"You've been nosing around. Apparently you're pretty strong." The boy didn't waste time with introductions. Alfred's eyes narrowed.

"I'm a Level 5, so I suppose so. What exactly do you mean by nosing around?" He asked pleasantly enough, although his eyes no longer held any warmth. The pale boy cackled at that.

"Don't play dumb! You've been looking into my Level Up programme and I'm meant to knock you off, apparently it'll even speed up getting me to Level 6." The boy cackled again and Alfred turned away from the boy.

"I'm not in the mood right now." Alfred began to walk down the street.

"I wonder if the Railgun will be then?" That froze Alfred and he turned around to face the grinning boy. He had a murderous look in his eyes.

"Fine."

*****

The explosion outside the café made the customers all jump scream and leap under tables, suspecting an earthquake as the cause.

"What's going on? A tremor?" Saten demanded from underneath the table.

"There aren't any secondary tremors, it must be something outside!" Kuroko had slipped on her Judgement arm band and ran out of the café to where a large crater was in the middle of the road, cars piled up on either side and one even embedded two stories up in a building opposite her.

"Uiharu, call Anti-Skill! I'm going to look for the culprit!" Kuroko called to Uiharu who had just run outside with Saten before teleporting away.

*****

Touma was struggling with the vending machine when a familiar voice sounded behind him and he was pushed out of the way. Mikoto was the one standing there.

"Oh, it's you." Touma said dumbly. A flash of the usual irritation crossed Mikoto's face.

"What do you mean 'oh'?" She demanded, sparks flying around her. Touma held both his hands up and tried to calm her down.

"I just meant that it was strange to see you as your friends said you weren't well." The sparks vanished and a tired look came into Mikoto's eyes.

"They said that, huh?" She asked, sounding exhausted.

"Well… more like something was bothering you or something." Touma amended his earlier reply. He could see what the girls had meant by a change in Mikoto, she looked empty.

"It's nothing." Mikoto turned to go.

"Like hell it's nothing." Touma's resolute voice made her stop and she turned around in surprise. "There's no way nothing's wrong. You're exhausted and you're acting weird too."

"Just… leave me alone." Mikoto began to go but a hand closed around her arm.

"What's going on?" Touma demanded.

"Let go of me!" Mikoto cried, trying to shake him off but he was stronger than she had thought.

"Not until you tell me what's going on!" She tried to shock him then but he was holding onto her with his right hand and her power was negated. She struggled some more before giving up.

"It doesn't concern you!" She shouted at him but he remained resolute.

"So there is something." She gritted her teeth, frustrated at his persistence.

"Even if I tell you there's nothing you can do!" Mikoto tried another tact.

"I won't know until I've tried." Touma wasn't about to give up so soon.

"Fine! If I tell you then you'll go, right?" She gave in. Touma nodded and so she told him.

*****

"Come on! Is this all you've got!" Alfred darted down an alleyway as the taunt was hurled at him along with something that made the wall it collided with collapse.

"What is this guy?" Alfred demanded of himself. He skidded to a halt as the boy appeared in front of him.

"Stop running away." The boy growled as Alfred leapt back and formed two large stalagmites in his hands and threw them. They shattered on impact with the boy's skin and the icy shards flew back at Alfred who jumped up, catapulting himself off the sides of the building to avoid the dangerous shard.

The boy leapt up, an inhuman jump, that caused him to quickly catch up with Alfred.

"Back down you go." The boy kicked Alfred and he was thrown back into a building, flying through the hard wall which collapsed on top of him. The boy landed a few metres away from the rubble and waited as Alfred fought to his feet, heaving away the bricks that had fallen atop of him.

"You're not that strong. I wonder if the real Railgun is any stronger than her clones?" The boy asked, sounding genuinely interested in the notion. When he got no response his scowled in irritation. "Fine, time to finish this."

He shot forwards and thrust his hand out. It buried itself right into his target's body. He licked his lips in expectation of the explosion to come but then he realised something was weird. His target's body was hard and crunchy and the expression hadn't changed. It was then than he realised that he had punched his hand through an ice figurine. Howling in frustration he yanked his hand free of the statue and looking around for the real Alfred and saw him turning the corner down an alleyway.

"Come on mouse! Come on out and fight the cat!" The boy shouted, chasing after the fleeing Alfred.

_I can't beat him right now, I'll have to find a way to escape him._

Alfred skidded to a halt as the building in front of him exploded into the alleyway. A large portion of the building blasted out at high speed from the dust and slammed into Alfred's side, hurling him into the wall and crushing his right arm with a resounding crunch.

"How does that feel?" The boy's voice came from the settling dust as he emerged from inside the building. Alfred gritted his teeth and heaved the piece of masonry away from him, keenly aware that his right arm was no longer responding and that he was finding it harder to breathe.

_Any attack on him won't work… let's try this then._

Alfred froze the ground all around him, the walls as well. He ran, using his ability to run on the ice as if it were normal ground and freezing the air behind him to fall great walls of ice. He could hear his pursuer smashing through the walls, then there was a pause, a shout of surprise, then the smashing sound continued.

_Just a little more._

Alfred saw his chance when the boy slipped momentarily again and he fled down an alleyway, taking another turn and instead of freezing the ground around him he made the diversion he had been planning by freezing the area down the path he had not taken. The smashing sounds continued and he knew that his pursuer had taken the bait.

_Now to get out into the open._

Alfred finally made his way back out onto the main road, his right arm hanging limp at his side. Armoured vans were arrayed across the road in a semi-circle around the crater in the centre of the road. Anti-Skill milled around as they organised themselves to go into the maze of alleyways. One group saw Alfred stumble into the open and he was quickly surrounded.

"What were you doing in there?" Was the first question he was asked. Biting back the witticism about the blithe ignoring of his injury, Alfred responded.

"Being chased."

"By whom?" The follow-up question was immediate.

"I don't know; but he's an esper." Alfred could now feel the pain in his arm and chest, now that the adrenaline of the confrontation was fading.

"Male or female?" The questions were quick and fast; but Alfred had no time left for them and he collapsed forwards, unconscious.

"Get him to the hospital! All of you, find the culprit!" Groups of Anti-Skill rushed into the alleyway and searched; but found nothing but the evidence of the battle that had taken place. Kuroko saw Alfred being taken away and leapt into the ambulance at the last moment, flashing her Judgement armband to give her reason for being there and they went off.

She looked at the unconscious boy and frowned. He was a Level 5 and it appeared that he had been forced away from a battle with another esper, meaning that there was a very strong Level 5 out there. She shook the thoughts away, concentrating on what she needed to find out from the boy.


	7. Chapter 6

**C**hapter 6

"Eh, Kuroko is that you?" Mikoto had picked up her phone when it had begun to ring. There were dark bags under her eyes and her entire stature seemed to have shrunk with the added burden upon her.

"Yes, Onee-sama. I have a request, if you will." Kuroko sounded frustrated.

"What is it?" Mikoto asked in a wary tone, she wasn't in the mood for any pranks. She doubted she would ever be again.

"This boy refuses to speak to anyone except you. He was involved in some incident but he won't answer any of my questions. Could you come to the hospital?" Kuroko's became more strained and it highlighted the source of her frustration.

"'This boy?'" Mikoto queried, wondering why some strange would be demanding to see her. Was it a fan?

"That Cryokinesist from before, the Level 5." No sooner had Kuroko spoken than Mikoto had hung up and was running from the room.

*****

"Touma! You should have bought that cat food before you came back! Now we have to go out and get it…." The short, child-like silver haired girl complained. She was dressed in a Sister's robes and was holding a cat in her arms that was sleeping contentedly.

"I couldn't help it… there was a lady asking for directions so I got a little side-tracked." Touma tried but Index was having none of it.

"Listen, Touma! A cat must have nourishment or it will die, just like a human! A lost woman isn't nearly as important!"

"Yes, yes." Touma soothed her. A lone figure in Tokiwadai's uniform was sprinting across the street up ahead of them and it caused the boy to stop short. Touma saw Mikoto's expression from afar that was a mix of pain, fear and hurt combined with the dark bags under her eyes.

"Touma?" Index asked, poking him curiously. "Oi, Touma!" She persisted and he snapped out of it. "What's wrong?" She asked.

"It's nothing." Index pouted and bared her teeth but gave in when it was clear that Touma was not in the mood for such questioning.

*****

"You're a really troublesome person, are you aware of that?" Kuroko demanded of Alfred who lay in the hospital bed, a bank of complex looking machinery piled on the right side of his bed with tubes running from them and under the blankets and into his arm or chest. The boy smiled disarmingly.

"Actually I think I'm rather helpful as I'll be warning Misaka-san of a new danger to her person." Alfred responded with an amused look on his eyes.

"A new danger? Onee-sama? Hah, she's the third strongest of all Level 5's in Academy City, nothing could be so dangerous to my Onee-sama!" Kuroko boasted whole heartedly.

"So… the fact that I'm a Level 5 and I got beat up so badly doesn't make you worry at all?" Alfred pointed out with a sceptical eyebrow raised. Kuroko paused as she found herself unable to come up with a decent response.

"Well… in that case you must tell me so that I, as a member of Judgement, can stop this danger!" Kuroko finally proclaimed grandly but Alfred's eyes dimmed slightly and his face took on a sad expression.

"You're from Judgement; you shouldn't have to choose your loyalties. As I said before: 'Ignorance is bliss.'" The sudden change in atmosphere caught Kuroko off guard and she felt like for once she was seeing a sincere part of this boy who seemed so pathetic, lying in a hospital bed with half of his body crippled.

"What do you mean 'choose your loyalties?'" Kuroko inquired and Alfred closed his eyes, his brow furrowed in thought as he tried to come up with an adequate response.

"I'll say that there are forces involved in this that you couldn't fight against and leave it at that." Something in the boy's voice warned Kuroko not to pursue the topic despite her curiosity.

Without warning the door shot open and Mikoto burst into the room panting heavily.

"Onee-sama! It wasn't so urgent that you had to run all the way here!" Kuroko protested but Mikoto was glaring up at Alfred.

"So? What did you want to say to me?" She demanded with anger raw in her voice. Kuroko looked between the two, acutely aware of the fact she was missing vital information. The boy, more composed than Mikoto, turned to Kuroko.

"Could you leave, please? I wish for only Misaka-san to hear what I have to say. Whether she chooses to tell anyone else or not is up to her." His eyes were honest and pleading which left Kuroko no choice to acquiesce to his request and left the room, closing the door behind her.

"Perhaps you notice the state which I am currently in?" Alfred opened with the question, gesturing at the machines and the right half of his torso using his remaining arm. Mikoto didn't respond and he sighed. "Fine, let's start from the beginning, shall we?" He pointed to a seat by the wall but Mikoto didn't budge. "There is a lot to explain and little time in which to explain it so you should just do as I say for now." A hard edge had now entered his voice and despite her urge to defy him further, Mikoto gave in and took a seat.

"Now, perhaps you'd like to know what use your clones are being put to, hm?"

*****

"Touma! You've been acting weird all night!" Index pouted, the cat still nestled in her arms. The girl's blunt statement broke Touma free of his thoughts and he looked to the girl, remembering, or rather not remembering, how he had saved her. That lack of memory made his mind up and he pushed the carrier bag he was holding into her arms.

"Go back to the apartment without me, I need to go somewhere." He ran off, ignoring Index's questions that followed him.

_Where is she?_

Touma stopped and finally began to think through what he was going to do. It was all well and good deciding he was going to find Mikoto; but how was he to do that in a city full of students? He looked up and saw one of the many windmills scattered throughout the city above him. The thought hit him and he began to run again, following the windmills that were spinning despite the lack of wind in the night.

*****

"What did you say to Onee-sama?!" Kuroko raged at the boy who wore a worried expression upon his face.

"That's something between her and me, I'm afraid." Alfred apologised with absolute sincerity.

"But-"

"Rather than being angry at me perhaps you should pray for Misaka-san. The next few hours will be difficult for her." Alfred interrupted her cuttingly and Kuroko was stunned by the swift change from apologetic timidity to confident command.

"Pray for Onee-sama?" Kuroko repeated.

"Thing are more grim than you could imagine, Shirai-san. She's become involved in a plot that has already claimed many, many lives."

*****

Touma found Mikoto on the bridge where they had fought months before, not that he remembered it as it was before the destruction of his memories. A solitary tear ran down her cheek and she was hunched up, knuckles white as she gripped the metal railing.

Touma stopped and his last footfall sounded loudly, startling her by his appearance. She twisted around, eyes furious and wet, and he was sure he saw fear there too.

"What are you doing here?" She demanded as if access to the bridge was prohibited.

"Looking for you." He responded and that stopped her short. He took a step forwards to her and she took a step back.

"Why? What do you want from me?" She asked, all the anger lost from her voice as the fear he had seen earlier rose to the surface.

"What's wrong with you?!" He exclaimed and she jumped at his sudden outburst. "Look at you! Crying here, looking like you haven't slept in days. You're pale as a ghost too!" Mikoto looked like she was about to protest so he pushed on. "Why don't you ask for help if you're in trouble?" He asked more quietly.

"Because… because it's my problem and no one else's!" She retorted, gaining more conviction as she went.

"So what?! If you're in that state because of it then who cares if it's your problem? Don't shoulder a burden by yourself!" Mikoto took another step back but Touma pursued her.

"Leave me alone! I know what I have to do, don't get in my way!" Mikoto screamed.

"What do you have to do?" Touma queried cautiously. The girl was furious at his persistence.

"It doesn't involve you, go home!"

"I will not." Touma's resolute tone stopped her tirade, but only for a moment.

"Why not?! It doesn't concern you!"

"That may be true; but I can't just go."

"If you get in my way I'll blow you away." Mikoto threatened him.

"I will not move." Touma repeated and spread his legs, stretching out his arms for emphasis. A blast of electricity shot past him and exploded on the bridge far behind him.

"I won't miss with the next one. This is your final warning." Mikoto's voice wavered in the face of Touma's resolute eyes.

"I won't move. Why do you have to shoulder this by yourself?!" Touma demanded angrily.

"It's my fault! I'll fix it, even thought I'll probably die I'll save them all!" Mikoto shouted back.

"Save them all?" The boy repeated. The memory of a blown up corpse shot into his memory. "Those fakes?"

"They're clones made to be killed for the strongest Level 5 to become stronger. If he kills me then at least some of the clones will be saved!" Mikoto finally explained her disjointed reasoning.

"Why do you have to die? There must be another way!" Touma brought forth his new argument.

"There isn't! If there was I wouldn't do this but there isn't! Get out of my way or do you want all those Sisters to die?" Mikoto asked with a hint of derision.

"I won't move. We can find another way." Touma insisted but Mikoto had enough.

"Enough! You won't move so I'm not going to hold back!" She blasted another bolt of lightning but this one hit the boy on the chest instead, throwing him back several metres where he hit the ground hard and was unmoving. Shock ran through Mikoto as the reality of what she had done overcame her but she swallowed the guilt and began to walk forwards, intending to pass Touma but the boy began to move and forced himself to his feet.

"I won't let you… go to your death." He grunted in pain. Mikoto stopped short, in awe of his unwavering determination.

"Why? Why are you going so far for me?" She asked in a quiet, scared voice. The boy smiled without humour.

"Who knows why? I don't need a reason to save someone." Despite his bravado the boy collapsed backwards and fell into unconsciousness.

*****

Kuroko was at a payphone in the hospital, mobile phones being prohibited inside so that they did not interfered with any of the equipment.

"Have you had any luck getting past those clearance blocks, Uiharu?" She asked, The girl answered negatively.

"They're very complex and secure, I can't get anywhere with them."

No sooner had she finished than alarms began to blare in the hospital and Kuroko quickly said a goodbye before slamming the phone back into its cradle and got the attention of the nearest nurse who was running down the corridor.

"What is going on?" She demanded of the nurse.

"One of the patients has gone missing!" The nurse replied and Kuroko followed her, keenly aware that they were heading towards Alfred's room. Indeed, they arrived at it and the nurse ran in through the open door. The tubes connected to the machine were all lying on the bed which was splattered with fresh blood and hospital clothes were strewn on top of it, also covered in blood.

"He… left?" Kuroko asked in disbelief, staring at the empty and blood splattered room. A memory of the boy smiling sadly with eyes speaking of great personal pain sprung up in her mind and she ran from the room.

"Where did you go, you fool?!"


	8. Chapter 7

**C**hapter 7

Touma awoke to the sensation of something wet dropping onto his face. Then Mikoto's face with her tearful eyes came into focus above him.

"Why did you go so far for a stranger?" She asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Who knows? Misfortune, I suppose." Touma grunted and laughed weakly at his own bad luck.

"I wouldn't call it misfortune." The new voice made both of the pair look up to see a familiar boy leaning heavily on the railing not far from them.

"You!" Mikoto cried out angrily when she saw him but when the boy staggered forwards and he came fully into view her anger melted away instantly. Blood dropped from his right side and his white shirt was almost completely soaked in it. The boy's right arm hung limp at his side, the effort of moving must have been great and it was barely concealed in the boy's expression.

"Oi, what happened to you?!" Touma demanded, groggily shooting into a sitting position. Mikoto supported him just as he was about to fall back down again after the sudden effort.

"Misaka-san… you mustn't fight the Accelerator." Alfred spoke, his voice was measured and his breathing laboured, it was clear that he could barely stand and yet he had come all that way to deliver his message.

"But if I don't all the Sisters will die!" Mikoto protested. Alfred raised his free hand from where he had been holding his wounded side and pointed at Touma. Blood was dribbling from the corners of his lips and down his chin, the damage was internal too.

"If you fight the Accelerator you'll end up like me or worse… but you can fight him… because you have that arm." Alfred's voice was wavering, as was already unsteady stance.

"He's just a human, he'll die!" Mikoto tried again, now with more determination in her voice. The more desperate tone of her voice was not lost on Alfred and he allowed himself a wry smile.

"That arm of his… dispels all powers. The Accelerator… deflects all attacks. We can't hurt him but he… that arm of his can." Alfred was staring intently at Touma's right hand as he spoke.

"Even so, there's no way he could win!" Mikoto persisted further.

"He… can…." Alfred's voice was a whisper, barely audible as he began to topple sideways, eyes closing as he fell. He hit the ground hard and immediately a red pool began to spread out around him.

"Call an ambulance!" Mikoto commanded and stood up to go.

"Oi, where are you going?" Touma demanded as she made to run away.

"To where the Accelerator is." She replied. Touma grabbed her arm as she turned away and stopped her going any further.

"Didn't you hear anything he said?! He came all the way here like that to warn you, you're just going to throw both your lives away, is that it?" Touma raved. Mikoto's eyes darted over to the unmoving boy and she seemed uncertain.

"I'll go. I can beat him and they'll stop the experiments. You can't beat him… he said so. Even if you could they'd call it a fluke and they'd start over again." Touma leapt on her indecision and forced himself to his feet and looked into her eyes so that she couldn't look away.

"Where is he?"

*****

Minutes after Touma had left Mikoto sensed someone nearby and looked up to see Kuroko had teleported to only a few feet away.

"Onee-sama, what are you doing here?" Kuroko asked and ran over, and then she noticed Alfred and stopped short. "He came all the way here?" She observed in disbelief. Mikoto looked down at the boy who had somehow become even paler than usual as his life bled out onto the road.

"Kuroko, take him back to the hospital using your teleport." Mikoto stood up, making up her mind.

"Onee-sama, where are you going?" Kuroko demanded as Mikoto began to run off.

"To settle something." The shouted reply came. Kuroko wasted no time mulling over the cryptic situation and knelt by the dying boy and lifted him up with one arm around her shoulders. For his stature the boy was impossibly heavy.

"Honestly… doing such a reckless thing. What kind of fool are you?" She asked the boy, not expecting an answer, and then teleported away.

*****

Touma arrived at the storage area where large metal containers were piled on top of each other in pyramidal shapes for support. Halting for breath he looked around him and tried to discern anything out of the ordinary, signs of battle, which showed him a clue as to where his quarry was.

A sparkling array of lightning behind the metal containers further ahead of him showed the way and he took one deep breath before he ran on towards the light. He weaved his way through the maze of metal walls until he made his way out into a large open area with a railway track running along the ground in the centre.

To his left the area was empty but to his right he saw a white haired, pale boy standing over something. A moment later he saw the Tokiwadai jumper that all the girls had to wear as part of their uniform and he was already dashing madly forwards.

"Stop there!" He yelled out as he pulled to a stop a bare few metres away from the two combatants. The white haired boy turned around and Touma saw the manic look on his face, gleeful at the pain he was inflicting.

"Oh? You're pretty brave to challenge me, Accelerator." He looked down at the Misaka clone who was staring at Touma in shock. "All civilian witnesses have to be disposed of, right?" The Accelerator's grin widened and his head snapped up like some kind of feral animal to eye Touma as a piece of meat.

"Entertain me a little."

*****

Mikoto appeared just as the Accelerator stood triumphantly with a large, glowing orb above his outstretches hands. Cuts and bruises marked both him and Touma who was kneeling a mere couple of metres from the Level 5. Touma spotted Mikoto who had pulled out a coin and was holding it as if to flick towards the Accelerator: Her Railgun.

"What are you doing here?!" His shout caused the Accelerator to twist his head to look for the reason of the boy's concern.

"Well if it isn't the original. Step back or I'll kill you too." An idea popped into his head and his eyes widened in malicious excitement. "Wait, I'll do it anyway. It'll make me a Level 6 faster, the most powerful esper!" He cackled manically, the plasma above him growing.

"If you attack him he'll just reflect it back at you!" Touma shouted at Mikoto in an effort to dissuade her but she only smiled sadly.

"I know… but I decided I wanted you to live on. So this is all I can do." The orb above the Accelerator grew even larger and she suddenly realised that the moment he was distracted the orb would detonate and kill them all anyway.

"MISAKA will help, so MISAKA informs hurriedly." Mikoto nearly jumped at the voice near to her and saw her own image looking back at her, strange goggles on the girl's head.

"What?" Mikoto asked, more out of surprise than a failure to understand.

"MISAKA will help, MISAKA repeats earnestly." The clone repeated.

"But how?" Mikoto looked back to the plasma above the Accelerator and an idea popped into her head. "The windmills!"

*****

"You ready to die now? At least it'll be quick." The Accelerator taunted Touma who was unable to find the energy to stand with his body aching all over from the fight.

The plasma wobbled and the Accelerator looked up as the orb began to lose its shape. He narrowed his eyes in concentration and it began to reshape itself but then it twisted even more and then it was gone altogether.

"What? I'm sure I calculated the wind correctly."

"You did." The Accelerator spun around to see Mikoto and her clone standing a few metres behind and understanding dawning on him.

"You! Your Sisters did this!" He pointed an accusing finger at the Sister and walked towards her with bloody intent. Mikoto stepped in front with arms outstretched.

"I won't let you hurt another Sister!" She proclaimed and the Accelerator stopped.

"Over your dead body? That's how it should be!" He prepared to leap when he was once again distracted by a voice behind him.

"Don't you lay a finger on them!" Touma was forcing himself to his feet, breathing heavily, his eyes determined.

"You're amazing, really. No other human could ever have gotten so far; but in the end you're just like them: Fodder." The Accelerator leapt forwards using his power of vector change to increase his speed. Touma knocked the boy's hand away and ducked under the other before bringing his right fist back and punching the Level 5's face with all his might.

Before falling into unconsciousness he saw the Accelerator try to get up from the ground where he had fallen and then fall back down, his body finally admitting defeat.


	9. Chapter 8

**C**hapter 8

The ceiling looked familiar. Then Alfred realised he had seen it before, in his own mind only hours ago. He had thought to go back to sleep, feeling incredibly tired right to his core; but someone had noticed his awakening.

"Ah, so the persistent hero awakens?" The mild sarcasm in the girl's voice was instantly recognisable, along with the upper class accent that accompanied it.

"'Hero,' huh?" Alfred asked sceptically before realising how much of a strain it felt to speak.

"Why, of course! Rushing out with fatal wounds to stop Onee-sama marching off to her inevitable defeat and subsequent death. Along with saving Saten-san I think that would make you an excellent example of 'persistent' and 'heroic.'" Alfred allowed himself a small smile.

"'Heroic?' That implies I had pure intentions." The smile vanished and there was silence for a moment.

"Meaning what, exactly?" Kuroko's voice was less up-beat and jovial now, an edge of suspicious creeping in to take their place.

"When that girl was being held as a hostage, I helped out then; but after that I was using Misaka-san and that boy to do what I couldn't." Alfred's eyes drifted sideways to where Kuroko was sitting on a chair beside his bed. The girl was searching his melancholic eyes for any sign of trickery.

"What could you not do that Onee-sama couldn't? You are both level 5s, are you not?" Kuroko inquired when she was satisfied that Alfred wasn't just pulling her leg.

"Strike out against that experiment. Misaka-san would want to save them, I knew that the moment I saw her; and that boy… I knew he'd help her. It didn't take much to find out about his right arm either."

"What are you talking about?" He had lost Kuroko by that point.

"Do you remember that body you 'found' in the alleyway? The one that was gone by the time Anti-Skill arrived?" Alfred coughed, feeling that his energy was running out fast. He was still too weak from his battle against the Accelerator and his dangerous actions after that.

"The Onee-sama copycat?" He could see that she was trying to keep her face composed but he noticed how she had turned a little pale at the memory.

"It wasn't a copycat. It was a clone, made by the Academy Board." Kuroko was too shocked to reply for a moment, somehow she found herself undoubting of the boy. Alfred continued on before she could interrupt.

"It was not the only one. They made 20,000 for an experiment."

"An experiment?" Kuroko managed to blurt out before he could go on.

"Yes. They thought that the strongest Level 5 could become a Level 6 and in order to do that they created 20,000 Misaka-san clones for him to kill." Alfred sighed heavily.

"That can't be true; this is Academy City, the height of civilisation!" Kuroko protested feebly.

"The height of technology. The scientists wanted to further it somehow. This is how they decided to; but I didn't get involved to save those clones. Perhaps I would have done if I hadn't had my reasons before that." Alfred's eyes narrowed in anger and this was not lost on Kuroko who was ever observant.

"What were those reasons?" She asked gently and Alfred closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as he mustered the courage to tell his secret.

"My parents worked on the team who were making the clones; but at first they were told it was to study the electronic current through her body in order to help people, for medical uses. When they found out the true meaning behind the experiment my parents refused to work anymore. They quit and came home. One day I came back after school late because of a concert rehearsal." He turned his head to face her and she saw the raw pain in his eyes that she had seen him try and mask before.

"I found them in the cellar, both shot in the head." He closed his eyes. "Our family had a lot of money and connections, I found out what had happened and I came here to take revenge. Helping those clones was only a by-product; but in the end I think that's the only thing that was worth it all."

"You're not going to take revenge on those responsible, are you?" Kuroko asked in a timid voice, apparently worried that she might spark outrage in the boy; but he was spent already.

"No. Revenge isn't something my parents would have wanted. I destroyed their work and saved the clones in the only way I could: Using others. I've done that now. There's nothing left."

Something warm brushed against his hand and then settled on top of it.

"I wouldn't say so."

*****

Down the hall Touma had woken to an unexpected surprise. The MISAKA he had saved from the Accelerator had been holding his hand to her chest and after much confusion he managed to disentangle the reasoning behind this from her. After the clone had left Mikoto herself came in only ten minutes later.

"Ah, you're up now?" She asked without expecting an answer and thrust a gift bag towards him.

"Huh?" Touma's confused query was. After waking up to an unusual and yet pleasant experience, for him, and then this; he had been left a tad unsure.

"Presents for the sick, it's what people do, right?" Mikoto explained tiredly.

"Oh, thanks." Touma accepted the package, happily surprised at her thoughtfulness.

"I just found them in a store, they were the most expensive ones there so be grateful." Mikoto ranted on as Touma found the cookie tin inside.

"Don't people usually bake these for the sick?" Touma teased, causing Mikoto to fly into one of her short lived rages.

"What kind of character do you think I am?!" She shouted as the boy tried to hide himself behind the tin. "Ah, whatever. You should take better care of yourself, you know. That doctor says you've been in here a lot." This was accompanied with a suitably inquisitive stare but Touma pretended he hadn't seen it.

"Well anyway, I just… wanted to say thanks." Mikoto forced out the words and immediately stood up, turning her back on Touma. She began to walk towards the door where she was stopped by Touma's voice.

"Just don't throw your life away, alright?" Touma waited for an answer but all he was given was the sound of the door sliding shut.

*****

The dormitory door opened and Kuroko walked in with a strange expression on her face.

"Kuroko? Were you out on Judgement business again?" Mikoto asked from her desk where she was reading something or other.

"Erm, not quite." Kuroko responded and sat on her bed with a light-hearted sigh.

"Oh, what's up with you? You're acting a little strange and you're bright red." A moment paused and then Mikoto's eyes narrowed and a darkly amused smile spread across her lips. "You've found a guy, haven't you?" She asked in a voice thick with ironic humour.

"What're you talking about Onee-sama?!" Kuroko protested loudly but it only made her situation worse.

"A very suspicious reaction. Who is he then?" Mikoto demanded and the younger girl's resistance collapsed.

"Grey-san." She finally murmured with great reluctance. She had said it so quietly that Mikoto wasn't sure she had heard right.

"Grey? That Cryokinesist?!" Mikoto cried as she tried to process the thought.

"Love works in odd ways, doesn't it?" Kuroko asked in a melancholic voice as she fell back onto the bed with another tired sigh.

"Still, him? I mean, have you even spoken to him for longer than five minutes?" Mikoto asked as she felt some strange emotion welling up in her. It felt like jealousy; but she knew it had to be something else. She ignored the feeling by occupying herself with berating Kuroko; but the younger girl knew Mikoto too well.

"Oh; but what about that fine young gentleman who tried so hard to save your life, Onee-sama?" Kuroko asked slyly. The question completely threw Mikoto and her face burned with embarrassment as she protested angrily.

"What are you talking about? How could I like a weirdo like that?!" She raved at Kuroko who sat on the bed with a serene and knowing look on her face.

"The first step on the way to happiness is to accept it, Onee-sama." She intoned her words of wisdom.

"KUROKO!"

And in return she received a thorough shocking.

*****

A knock on the door woke Touma from his nap and he sat up in bed.

"Come in." He called as he rubbed his eyes free of sleep. Alfred entered the room in a wheelchair which he was pushing along. He manoeuvred it to the side of the bed and offered Touma a letter that had been resting on his lap.

"Shirai-san brought this in amongst other things. It's addressed to you so I thought I'd bring it over." Touma took the letter as Alfred turned his wheelchair back towards the doorway.

"You know, you're a bit of a mystery." Touma spoke as he opened the envelope. Alfred stopped and turned his vehicle around to face the boy again.

"You got yourself involved in all this and you played us around like chess pieces. You got seriously injured in the process but we still made it through in the end." Touma didn't look at Alfred as continued on.

"And that makes me a mystery, does it?" Alfred asked. He was curious as to where Touma was taking this conversation.

"Thing is, you were controlling us to protect us, weren't you?" Touma at last looked up at Alfred who remained silent. "If you had been using us to your own ends you wouldn't have ended up hurt like that. You knew everything and planned to get us through it. Right?"

"What if my plan just went wrong, that's why I was hurt?" Alfred pointed out. Touma just shrugged in reply and pulled the letter out of the envelope.

"You don't strike me as that kind of guy. You tried to hide behind a harsh mask but in the end you did it all for people you didn't even know. You may have had your reasons for getting involved in the first place but what came after that wasn't about you. Was it?"

Alfred turned the wheelchair around and wheeled himself towards the door.

"Who knows?"

Once the boy had left Touma unfolded the letter. The hand writing was unfamiliar so his gaze flicked down to the bottom of the letter to where it was signed. If he had been drinking Touma would've spluttered everywhere at the name. Instead he quickly began to read the letter.

Minutes later Touma had jumped out of bed and changed out of his hospital clothes into more suitable clothes for the outside world and left the room. He turned right and headed towards the exit to discharge himself.

At the end of the hall, unknown to Touma, Alfred watched the boy's retreating back and smiled to himself. Kuroko had, of course, teleported the letter out of the envelope and they had read it. Outside the aforementioned delivery girl was trying to stakeout the entrance.

The boy wheeled himself to his hospital room and stood up out of his wheelchair and removed his hospital clothes, revealing that he was wearing casual clothes underneath.

"The last little adventure of this episode." He said to himself with a chuckle before leaving the room and departing the hospital where Kuroko was waiting for him.

"He hasn't gone far; Saten-san and Uiharu are keeping tabs on him." She informed him as he walked down the steps of the hospital's front entrance. His slightly odd stride made her frown.

"Are you really alright to leave?" She asked with concern but the boy waved off her concern.

"I wouldn't miss this for the world."


	10. Chapter 9

**C**hapter 9

"Sheesh, she calls me out and then doesn't arrive on time." Touma said to himself as he leaned against the tree.

"You're sure that's what he said?" Kuroko demanded of Alfred. The two were hiding in a tree top looking down onto the path.

"Pretty sure, although it's been a while since I did any lip reading." The boy responded. Kuroko's phone buzzed and she flipped it open and listened.

"Onee-sama's nearly here. Uiharu's standing by further up the path." The girl informed her companion as she snapped her phone shut and slipped it back into her pocket.

"Rightyho then. Ah, I can see her now, just coming down the steps over there." Alfred alerted her and pointed further down the path to where Mikoto was walking towards Touma who had also seen the girl and raised a hand in greeting.

"Calling me out of hospital and then showing up late? What's up with that?" Touma asked the girl as she arrived with an odd expression on her face.

"Be quiet, I got caught up a little." Mikoto meant it as a cutting retort but it came out as a feeble excuse and she knew it. Up in the tree Alfred was grinning at the spectacle down below. Kuroko beside him was less enthusiastic about the secret meeting, hence why she had decided to follow Mikoto.

"You know, Shirai-san, you could just leave Misaka-san up to her own devices. If she wants to go out with a guy then maybe she should just do that?" Alfred suggested and Kuroko's head swivelled around like a machine and the cold glare she gave him was answer enough.

"So, what's up? You called me out here for a reason, right?" Alfred was lip reading again for Kuroko. Mikoto reddened a little and looked away.

"Just walk with me a bit; I want to tell you something." She said.

"What did she say?" Kuroko demanded but Alfred shook his head.

"I couldn't see, she was facing the other way." He responded much to the girl's annoyance. Touma and Mikoto began to walk down the path, the boy very much at ease and the girl uncharacteristically shy.

"We're moving further up." Kuroko told him and grabbed his hand and they teleported to the end of the avenue where Uiharu was waiting for them in a café which had a view of the street. Kuroko ran inside, dragging the boy inside after her.

"They're coming now." Kuroko informed Uiharu as she sat down hurriedly opposite the girl and yanked Alfred next to her.

"Shirai-san, is this really necessary? I'm curious too but it feels like we're invading Misaka-san's privacy." Uiharu tried but Kuroko silenced her with a wave of her hand and looked out the window, searching for the two.

"There they are!" Kuroko pointed to where Touma and Mikoto had just emerged onto the street and were looking straight ahead with wide eyes. "Did she tell him already?!" Kuroko demanded of no one in particular. Then her phone went off and she yanked it out impatiently although that vanished once she saw the number. Uiharu's phone was also ringing.

"Shirai Kuroko here." Kuroko spoke into the receiver. She responded a few times before jumping out of the chair and over Alfred.

"Uiharu, stay back here and monitor the situation. I'll go in for a closer look." Kuroko ordered before rushing out of the store as she slipped on her Judgement badge. Uiharu also did so and pulled on her headset.

"What's going on?" Alfred inquired as the girl stood up to go.

"There's some kind of panic not far from here and all our surveillance equipment in the area isn't working." As if to support her report screaming began to erupt outside and people were running past the window and towards the park. Inside the store people began to stand up hesitantly and streamed outside before also joining the crowd of fleeing citizens.

"Come on, we can see it outside." Alfred said to Uiharu before he slipped out of his seat and tried a half jog outside, all to aware of the splitting pain in his side from his wound that Kuroko had only antagonised by dragging him around.

He turned to where the fleeing crowds had come from and stopped short. A giant monster could be seen despite the tall buildings around it. The air around it crackled with sparks and it seemed as if the monster itself was made of electrical energy.

"Uiharu-san, what's going on?" Alfred and Uiharu turned as Mikoto and Touma ran towards them.

"We don't know. Judgement only just sent us orders now. Shirai-san's gone to investigate; we should stay back here for now." Uiharu replied.

"Kuroko's gone towards that thing? I'm not waiting around here, come on!" She grabbed Touma by the arm and made to run towards the monster but a firm hand on her shoulder stopped her short. She turned around and saw that it was Alfred who had caught her.

"What? We can't just stay around here with that thing there!" Mikoto anticipated his argument but the boy shook his head.

"You're right, we can't. But you have to stay here." He said firmly.

"Me? Why should I stay here and not you? You're injured!" She argued but the boy pointed at the distant monster.

"That thing's plainly made of electricity. If it can control the flow of electricity you'll be killed straightaway if you get too close to it. Your body generates a magnetic field and a high voltage, right? If it ripped that out of you then you'd be gone in an instant." He clicked his fingers to emphasise the speed of her demise.

"I can't stay here though!" Mikoto protested and turned to go.

"Mikoto, do as he says." The girl stopped straightaway when Touma spoke but nevertheless she turned around to argue with him.

"He has a point; if you go you won't be able to do anything. You'll probably only make it stronger if you attacked it and it'll make things worse for everyone else. If we're needed then Shirai can contact her, right?" Touma jabbed a thumb at Uiharu who nodded confirmation.

"Stay here and keep these two safe. That's your job, Misaka-san. I'll go help Shirai-san." Alfred said more gently than before and began to walk in the general direction of the monster.

"You two better come back, I won't forgive you otherwise!" Mikoto shouted after them. The boy raised a hand casually in reply without looking back.

*****

"What is this thing?" Kuroko teleported away from another lightning blast that whipped out of the monster's body and thundered down onto the ground where she had been, leaving a long scorch mark where it hit.

"A giant ball of electricity." She turned to see Alfred standing casually at the entrance to the plaza where the monster and she were.

"What are you doing here?" She shouted the question at him but no sooner had she spoken than an arc of electricity shot towards the boy who didn't even budge. In front of him a wall of ice rose out of nowhere and the lightning bounced off it harmlessly into a multitude of sparks.

"Helping you. I deduced that your power would be ineffective against something like this." The boy responded as she teleported to take cover behind his wall of ice with him.

"You're in no condition to be fighting though!" She protested.

"That as may be but I'm hardly going to stand around while I know you're fighting a losing battle." He shot back the reply and they stared at each other for a long moment before Kuroko relented.

"Fine. For now we just have to keep that thing occupied until we get further orders." She glanced out from behind the ice wall but immediately ducked behind.

"Still, I'm curious as to how such a thing came to be. I've never heard of any esper powers like this before; but it's plainly some kind of manifestation of one." Alfred commented as he stretched the wall of ice to cover them more effectively.

"Shirai-san!" Through Kuroko's headpiece came Uiharu's voice.

"Uiharu? What's wrong?" The Teleporter caught the urgency in the girl's voice.

"Misaka-san's been taken!"

*****

Uiharu was kneeling by a Touma who was just regaining consciousness and pushing himself up from the floor.

"What happened?" He asked and Uiharu held out a dart for his inspection.

"They must be tranquilisers of some sort. We were all hit and when I woke up just now Misaka-san wasn't here. Whoever did this was after her." Uiharu quickly explained before focusing on her headpiece again.

"They've completely vanished, there's no sign of anyone nearby."

*****

"Notify Anti-Skill to look out for any suspicious activity in the area and put Onee-sama on the missing persons list." She saw Alfred making a face and looked at him questioningly.

"'Missing persons list'. Do you even need it for one city?" He asked. Kuroko ignored him and turned her attention back to Uiharu.

"Take cover in a nearby building, we don't know what their objective is. Wait for backup from Anti-Skill. Is there any word on measures against this… thing?"

"Anti-Skill is mobilising but they're still analysing the situation. Primary reads show that it has no composition, it's just made of energy." She reported in a voice suggesting that she was reading from her PDA.

"Do we have a plan then?" Alfred asked Kuroko as she muted her headpiece.

"All we know is that it's made out of energy, nothing else." She relayed the information from Uiharu and Alfred's brow creased in thought.

"If you can keep it occupied I might be able to reduce its power level significantly. If I can convert the energy to thermal energy and counter it with my power it should be disabled."

"How do you intend to change its energy type then?" Kuroko inquired and Alfred shrugged.

"Still working on that one. I guess if I apply enough of my power it'll freeze over anyway."

"There's a lot of 'if' in this plan of yours." Kuroko pointed out very doubtfully.

"Well we haven't got much choice. We can't just stay like this forever." Alfred countered and the girl gave in.

"I'll keep it distracted while you do your thing, just be quick about it." She ran out from behind the barricade and teleported away moments before arcs of lightning burnt the ground she had left behind. Alfred waited ten seconds before he lowered his shield. Instantly part of the monster whipped out towards him but Alfred had planned for this and held out both his hands and concentrated all his power.

The tentacle-like outcrop of energy froze and shrunk back into the giant and spread through it. The giant began to decrease in size as it froze and retracted back into itself. Kuroko appeared by Alfred and watched as frozen mist left his hands and wrapped around the giant and forced it into an ice encased orb.

"Looks like it worked."

"Not quite. If that thing is unrestricted again it'll go back to normal; and I had to use a little more effort than I thought. That or it could have just been you yanking me around earlier." He nodded with his head to his side where a tiny blotch of red had appeared on his blue aertex.

"I told you not to push yourself!" Kuroko remonstrated him.

"It's not bad, only feels like a small part of it reopened, it's nothing serious." Alfred assured her, although she slumped to the ground so it was doubtful she even heard him.

"Shirai-san? Hey, are you alright?" Alfred crouched down beside her before feeling a small prick on the back of his neck and he reached back to grab a small dart.

"A dart?" He looked around to see men with guns rushing out of the surrounding buildings, weapons aimed at both him and the giant compacted into the orb of ice.

"Hey, what're you guys doing?!" Alfred asked and stood up, clutching his side. The wound had opened further and was becoming a great hindrance to his concentration. Two men carrying a box between them appeared and laid the great oblong metal case on the ground before opening it and pulled out a large cylinder in two pieces.

They approached the orb and pushed the two pieces together and then twisted. There was a click, a hiss and then a beep. Moments later Alfred felt the butt of a gun hitting him in the back of the head and then blackness.


	11. Chapter 10

**C**hapter 10

"Shirai-san, how do you feel?" Uiharu was the owner of the voice which had sounded the moment Kuroko opened her eyes. A moment's surveying of her surroundings told Kuroko that she was lying down in what was most likely a hospital bed.

"It seems as though I can't move my body very much." Kuroko finally responded but even this response delighted Uiharu.

"Thank goodness! Oh, the numbness is the after effect of the toxin which was in the dart you were shot with. We analysed it but there were no clues as to who shot it." Uiharu quietened a little as she reached the end of her summary.

"Also Misaka-san is still missing. We think she was taken hostage in connection with what happened."

"Onee-sama was kidnapped?!" Kuroko tried to sit up but barely lifted her head before flopping back onto the pillow.

"You shouldn't try to move around too much, Shirai-san. You'll recover faster if you rest and let your body take care of the toxin." The timbre of the male voice was instantly recognisable and Kuroko turned her head to look behind Uiharu where Alfred was sitting in a chair. A bandage was wrapped around his forehead, pushing up the front of his hair to hang over it.

"What happened?" Kuroko asked the boy but he had no real answer.

"You went down and they got me with one of those darts but I'm highly resistant to most toxins alien to my body for whatever reason. So instead they snuck up and smacked me in the back of the head but I saw them seal the Rai in some kind of container. It was as if they had prepared for it beforehand."

"Rai? Do you mean that monster?" Kuroko inquired and Alfred looked surprised for a moment before he remembered that she had been unconscious up to that moment.

"Ah yes, I had forgotten that you haven't seen the report yet. Uiharu-san has it. They've termed those things 'Rai'. It means 'lightning.'" Alfred stood up and Kuroko saw that he was uncomfortable with the movement but refrained from making a comment about it. She was in no position to point out someone else's physical condition.

"I'll read it to you, the doctor said you mustn't do anything and just rest. I think it would be hard to read from that position anyway." Uiharu rustled around in her bag for her PDA which had t he report on.

"I'm going to head off; there are a few things I want to take care of. Just rest up and get better quickly, we've got quite a lot of work to do." Alfred flashed her a reassuring and yet carefree smile that instantly warmed Kuroko up.

"Are you going to look for Onee-sama?" Kuroko asked him. The boy stopped but did not turn around to face her which was answer enough for her. "You mustn't, Grey-san. It's too dangerous to search by yourself. Let Judgement and Anti-skill take care of it." She pleaded with him.

"I have some contacts whom I can ask for information. I'll be back soon once I've asked around, don't worry." Then he exited the room.

"Ah, here it is. Are you listening, Shirai-san?" Uiharu asked Kuroko who nodded absent mindledly, her mind on how Alfred had avoided responding to her specific plea.

*****

"_Is the subject in place?"_

"_Yes, sir. The staff in range are all wearing the appropriate equipment."_

"_And the source?"_

"_Also in place, sir. The circuit is complete; all that is needed is for the switch to be put into place."_

"_Proceed then."_

"_Yes, sir."_

Mikoto was dimly aware of the conversation that was going on between whoever was in front of her and another person whose voice was distorted due to its sounding from a headset. Her eyes had yet to open so she could not see what was going on around her so she had to rely on her ears.

There were slow, clunking footsteps which were always preceded and proceeded by a mechanical whirring sound which was familiar but Mikoto could not place it, her brain barely functioning properly. She could hear mostly one sided conversations, announcements via what must have been loud speakers and various other sounds which she had no idea about.

"_Beginning experiment in 10 seconds."_

Mikoto's eyes finally opened and her first observation was that her feet were not touching the floor. As she had not been able to feel most of her body she had not realised that she was suspended from the ground by thick metal bands running around her wrists and ankles that were then bolted to the wall. Her next observation was that there were several large suits facing her and she realised that the whirring sounds had been these moving. Men were inside the suits, mostly holding electronic pads with fingers poised as they watched either her or the machines lining the walls of the room.

"_Subject is awake; continue with the experiment, sir?"_

"_Do so."_

"_Beginning experiment in 5 seconds."_

Memories began to rush back and Mikoto remembered the sharp pain in her neck before blackness and coupled with the numbness in her limbs she deduced that she had been drugged with something. She tried to struggle but nothing happened, her body just didn't move.

"_Beginning experiment. Extending the couplings."_

There was a metal clang then a whirring sound which was followed by another metal clang as two objects hit each other to Mikoto's right where she could not see.

"_Coupling accomplished. Lowering switch. Circuit completed."_

A ripping pain seared through Mikoto's body and she opened her mouth to scream but nothing came. Her body convulsed and shook of its own accord. She had no control over herself and yet she felt every bit of the pain that roared through her limbs and mind. She could feel the voltage in the air that was beyond anything she had ever felt and that was what was leaving her body; greatly diminished in comparison to what was being forced into her.

"_Magnetic field strengthening."_

"_Signs of damage to vital organs. Continue with the experiment?"_

There was a pause as the pain coursed through her, a pain so extreme that she could not even faint, forced to consciousness to endure it.

"_Continue until damage nears critical."_

The emotionless voice belonged to whoever was overseeing what was being done to her and even in the midst of the pain Mikoto felt a burning hatred for the owned of the voice but she couldn't concentrate on that, the pain was too much, all consuming.

"_Damage to the heart is nearing life threatening."_

"_Break the circuit, stop the current flow."_

There was a click; a whir and then the pain stopped for a moment before the aftermath came rushing back. Thankfully Mikoto only felt it for a moment before the world went black again.

*****

Alfred mounted the steps from the avenue up to the small square where the latest episode had started and where Mikoto had last been seen. He wasn't surprised to see someone familiar sitting on a bench, watching over the square with eyes that weren't really seeing anything. Alfred joined him and for a few minutes neither of them spoke, he wasn't even sure if the boy next to him had noticed his arrival.

"Do you think this has anything to do with the Accelerator?" Touma finally spoke. He looked and sounded like he hadn't slept very much and had the gaze of someone who was seeing the past over and over again.

"It might do. We don't know anything yet but it had something to do with that monster."

"The lightning thing?" Touma asked, finally focusing and turning to face Alfred who continued to scan the faces in the crowd for no real reason.

"Yeah, that's right. Whoever took her also took that thing. They must be connected. Why did they only take one of us, not all of us? Why only Misaka-san? There must be a reason why. If we can work that out we can find her." Alfred thought aloud in attempt to bring out the nagging feeling he had which was screaming it knew the answer but he couldn't hear it.

"That thing was made of lightning, right? Isn't that why? Maybe they thing she had something to do with it so took her too?" Touma suggested and Alfred nearly smacked himself for not seeing the connection earlier.

"You're right. I can't believe I didn't see that earlier." He turned to look at Touma who could only be described as haggard.

"Go home and get some rest, I'll follow up. If there's anything at all that you can do or help out with I'll get you a message." Alfred promised and Touma nodded his head, rubbing his face with his hands to try and wake himself up.

"Thanks. I'll do whatever I can so just make sure you call." With that he walked away and left Alfred to muse over his findings. After a long brainstorm he pulled out his phone and flipped it open, dialling a number from the contacts list.

"You're part of the team cleaning up the cloning debacle, right?" He demanded without a greeting. There was a stunned silence for a moment before the other person answered his question with an affirmative. "I need some information so listen carefully."

*****

"So basically we know nothing about what happened?" Kuroko summed up the report and Uiharu nodded her head sadly.

"The cameras in the area were knocked out and none of the witnesses saw anything before the Rai appeared. So far the forensic team hasn't found anything except the marks from your battle with it. We'll have to wait until we find a clue."

"If we find one."


	12. Chapter 11

**C**hapter 11

It was the middle of the day but where Alfred stood it was nearly pitch black. As he had walked in to the building he had slowly become accustomed to the ever darkening surroundings until he had almost perfect night vision. Even so he could only make out shapes and when he was looking for paperwork to read it was not the most convenient of situations.

"I suppose I'll just root around until I find something then." He murmured to himself and proceeded to do just that. After at least twenty minutes' searching, he couldn't be sure of the time due to the lack of light in the room, he found a file cabinet containing sufficiently chunky folders to be suspicious. Rather than take them all out into the light which would be too time consuming he pulled out his mobile phone and snapped it open so that the screen's backlight revealed the labels on the files.

"Just what I wanted. Let's hope you have the data I want." Alfred spoke to the folder he was pulling out of the cabinet after having seen its label. Keeping his phone's backlight on by periodically pressing a random number Alfred was able to quickly scan some of the folder's contents. The further in he got the more frustrated he became at the lack of information he was searching for. The fruits of his labour finally revealed themselves towards the mid-back of the folder.

Holding the phone closer to the folder Alfred could read some of the more detailed text which had been shrunk in size to save space. A couple of laboratory names jumped out at Alfred and he entered them into the notes section of his phone before snapping it shut. His night vision was slightly impaired after the long usage of the phone's glow but he was still able to replace the folder and make his way out without any difficulty.

Once back into the sunlight outside the abandoned research centre Alfred was able to check the time on his watch, a classic analogue watch with no backlight or any gadgets. It was a quarter to one in the afternoon so he had a lot of time to kill until night fell which was when he'd have to find a way into the suspicious laboratories he had been able to identify. Making a decision he walked off in search of a florist.

"I guess I'll go visit them then."

*****

"You should be alright to go outside now but don't do any strenuous activity or you could cause damage to your body. Just take it easy for now."

"Thank you for you care." Kuroko replied to the doctor and then she followed the man from the room to where Uiharu was waiting for her outside. Walking towards the reception desk to discharge herself Kuroko quizzed Uiharu for the latest updates.

"So where's Grey-san now?" Kuroko asked as she was signing a healthcare form.

"He didn't say very much. Only that he had some leads to follow and that he'd drop by the Judgement office later to share what he's learnt." Uiharu replied. Kuroko handed back the form to the woman behind the desk who smiled with her mouth but not her eyes, a well practiced look.

"That guy… getting himself into trouble again I don't doubt!" Kuroko complained while walking out of the reception doors to the outside.

"I'm sure Grey-san will be alright. He's a Level 5 after all!" Uiharu tried to reassure Kuroko but the Teleporter wouldn't have any of it.

"Onee-sama was kidnapped and she's the Electro Master. It's too dangerous for anyone to be moving on their own right now even if they are a Level 5." The girl reminded Uiharu of what Grey was looking into at that moment.

"But you're too injured to help him for now so perhaps it's best for now? Let's do what we can using the resources at the Judgement branch." The other girl suggested and Kuroko relented a little.

"He said he'll show up there later anyway so that's probably for the best. Let's go then, Uiharu."

*****

"Sorry I didn't come and see you earlier but there were things I had to take care of. I hope you can understand. I set out to finish it but in the end I guess I found my place here at the same time but then I suppose you'd know that if you're watching." Alfred knelt by the stone before him and laid the flowers down on the offering plaque. He proffered a prayer to whichever omnipotent being existed in the universe and then stood up again.

"I'll come back again when this is over. Oh, maybe I'll bring her with me, you'd definitely like her." The boy suggested to the gravestone before him which bore two names; both with the surname of 'Grey'.

Footsteps from nearby made him turn to see one of the last people he had expected to meet in such a place.

"What are you doing here?" The newcomer demanded of Alfred.

"I could ask you the same question but I think it's fairly clear why I was here by these." He gestured to the bouquet he had laid on the offering plaque before looking back up at the boy.

"How did you know the Grey professors?" The boy asked, a little less aggressively as he laid the bouquet he held down next to Alfred's.

"They never told you my surname?" Alfred asked in surprise. "Grey, Alfred." He introduced himself.

"So that's why you got involved. I only found out about what happened after I got shunted off the project, in the end they were just using me except for these two. I'll stick with my title for now; I don't think you need to know who I actually am." The Accelerator stood up and turned to Alfred who had picked up on something he had said.

"What do you mean 'shunted off?' Wasn't it closed?" He queried.

"Huh? What, you didn't know? The Level 6 programme is still in place; they've only changed who will become it." The Accelerator looked genuinely surprised that Alfred hadn't known.

"Tell me where they're carrying out the experiments." Alfred demanded but the white haired boy just shrugged.

"Like I said they just tossed me aside. I don't know much about the new project; it's just some stuff I heard. Oh and a Sister I bumped into said something about how some of them were still being used." Alfred turned away and began to walk away.

"Thanks."

*****

Both the laboratories turned out to be vacant but Alfred already had a lot of new information and an entirely new theory to think through before planning what to do next. It was late when he arrived at the Judgement branch office where he found that Kuroko had fallen asleep on the sofa with a blanket laid over her by Konori. Uiharu was working on the computer and Saten was lounging around not doing a lot while Konori filled in the day's report.

"Ah, Grey-san you were safe after all." Uiharu was the first to welcome the boy as he walked in.

"It's not like I was breaking into some place or anything." He responded, although that was a complete lie, and then he glanced over to the sleeping Kuroko. "I'm surprised they let her out so quickly but I guess she's still suffering the after-effects?" Alfred waved a hello to Saten as he walked over and tugged the blanket it back into place where Kuroko had turned over and it had partly slid off the sofa.

"So, did you learn anything?" It was Konori who had asked the question which surprised Alfred and she obviously noticed. "They let me on the situation. Misaka-san is an important friend for all of us so I'll help out too. It's obvious whatever's going on isn't legal anyway." She added and Alfred smile, glad to have someone else to help them out.

"I searched a couple of laboratories but they were both abandoned. I've got a few more places to check out so I'll do that later tonight but I was told why Misaka-san was taken." He sat down on the sofa next to Kuroko and the others sat down on the seating arrayed around the table.

"What do you mean you were told? Do you have contacts?" Saten asked, excited at the prospect of revealing some of Alfred's rather secretive background.

"I do but I only found out where the research centres for the Sisters Project were located. The Accelerator was the one who told me."

"The Accelerator? Sisters Project?" Konori asked and Alfred realised that he had been careful in keeping these people out of that episode but now that Mikoto was in danger he had to let them in on it.

"The Sisters Project was a plan to make the most powerful Level 5, the Accelerator, a Level 6 by engaging him in battles with other Level 5s. However to raise his level would require killing those Level 5s, according to theories the scientists of the project came up with. So when Misaka-san was young they obtained her DNA pattern and cloned her."

"They cloned Misaka-san?!" The three chorused, although Saten was the only one more interested than shocked.

"Yes. The Accelerator killed them one after the other in organised battles. You remember that Misaka-san copycat? That was a clone. Shirai-san, Misaka-san and the boy who was with you the other day, Uiharu-san, found the aftermath of one of those battles when they tried to chase after one of the clones. I told Misaka-san what I knew of was going on after that and in the end she and that boy put an end to the project by having the boy, a level 0, defeat the Accelerator. I won't go into the details of how he did it but let's just say things haven't gone according to plan." Alfred drank from the glass that Konori had filled with water while he had been speaking.

"How did you know about what was going on then?" Saten asked, once again keen to find out about Alfred's secretive side.

"My parents were scientists working on the project. Like Misaka-san they had been told it was to help research into medicine. When they found out they protested… and were silenced. That's why I was involved. I met the Accelerator by their grave today when I visited and he told me that the project hasn't ended although he's no longer the chosen one for becoming the first Level 6." Saten quietened down when Alfred spoke of his parents' death and mumbled an apology which he waved away.

"You didn't know. In any case it seems that they've changed their plans a little. I think they've taken Misaka-san to make her the first Level 6." Alfred took another sip while questions were fired at him.

"Why would they do that? Surely Misaka-san would help them if it wasn't going to hurt anyone?" Uiharu asked and Alfred placed his glass down on the table.

"There was one more thing the Accelerator told me. He said that one of the Sisters had recently told him that they were still being used despite telling our being told they had been freed. This is only a theory but I think they're using the Sisters somehow to force Misaka-san to level up. Not only that but that Rai creature is connected too; they were prepared for it when it appeared so they must be using that too."

"So you're saying the Rai was their doing too?" Konori demanded and Alfred held his hands palm upwards in a sign of unknowing.

"Like I said, it's only a theory. We have so little to go on right now we can't really make any accurate hypotheses. I'm only trying to link what we know together but in the end the most important thing is not what's going on but where Misaka-san is. I'll head out again to check some more places out tonight. I might be able to find some leads while I'm at it."

"You're going when it's this late?" Saten asked as Alfred stood up after debriefing them on what he had found.

"It's better to go at night. If the places are occupied then it's easier to sneak in than when it's daylight."

"But if they catch you-" Uiharu began but Alfred held a hand up to stop her.

"Then I can escape, it won't be too much trouble as long as I'm careful. Besides if I find an active laboratory I won't snoop around too much, I'll do some research on it before I go inside. Just finding a research centre they're still using will be a strong lead which is what we really need right now."

The boy left then. Once the door shut behind him Konori sighed.

"You can stop acting now Shirai, he's gone." She said. Kuroko sat up and stretched.

"It's painful to stay still like that for so long." She moaned.

"It was your idea to do that." Uiharu pointed out as the girl stood up and began to perform some quick stretches to work her muscles back out of their cramp.

"So, what are you going to do?" Konori asked and Shirai stood up properly.

"I'll follow him, of course."


End file.
